THE  PRISON  AND  THE  PRISONER 


f 


THE 


PRISON  AND  THE  PRISONER 


A  SYMPOSIUM  BY 


GEORGE  GORDON  BATTLE 
R.  J.   CALDWELL 
JOHN  COLLIER 
CHARLFS  HENRY  DAVIS 
ARTHUR  D.  DEAN 
FREDERICK  A.   DORNER 
BERNARD  H.   GLUECK 


E.  KENT  HUBBARD 
KARL  W.  KIRCHWEY 
COLLIS  LOVELY 
THOMAS   MOTT   OSBORNE 
THOMAS  W.   SALMON 
WILLIAM  H.  WADHAMS 
E.  STAGG  WHITIN 


EDITED  BY 
JULIA  K.  JAFFRAY 


SECRETABY 
THE  NATIONAL  COMMITTEE  ON  PRISONS  AND  PRISON  LABOR 


BOSTON 

LITTLE,  BROWN,  AND  COMPANY 
1917 


Copyright,  1917, 
BY  LITTLE,  BROWN,  AND  COMPANY. 


All  rights  reserved 
Published  November,  1917 


Set  up  and  electrotyped  by  J.  S.  Gushing  Co.,  Norwood,  Mass.,  U.S.A. 
Presswork  by  S.  J.  Parkhill  &  Co.,  Boston,  Mass.,  U.S.A. 


TO  ONE  WHO  SAW  THE  REALLY  GREAT 
SIGNIFICANCE   IN  THE  PENAL  PROBLEMS 
OF  TO-DAY,  GRASPED  THE  FORCES  SHAPING 
FOR   THIS    STRUGGLE,    AND    ORGANIZED    THESE 
FORCES   TO   BE    COMPREHENSIVE   AND    POTENTIAL 
IN    THE    MAKING    OF    A    NEW    PENAL    SYSTEM 
DEVELOPING  OUT  OF  THE  CONDITIONS  POR- 
TRAYED   BY    THIS    BOOK  —  TO    OUR 
PRESIDENT,   ADOLPH   LEWISOHN. 


436067 


INTRODUCTION 

THE  last  twenty-five  years  have  marked  many 
movements  for  the  amelioration  of  conditions  under 
which  people  live  and  labor.  Housing,  Child  Labor, 
Industrial  Conditions,  Tuberculosis,  Insanity,  all 
have  come  under  our  purview.  In  each  case  the 
movement  has  become  definite  and  effective  when 
academic  moralizing  has  given  place  to  personal 
visitation,  when  suggestion  and  direction  have  been 
had  from  those  who  have  looked  for  themselves  and 
speak  with  the  authority  of  experience. 

Penology,  criminology,  etc.,  have  been  the  specula- 
tion of  the  wise  in  their  own  conceit.  The  prisoner 
has  remained  an  abstraction  to  be  babbled  about, 
though  never  really  known  —  a  thing  apart,  dis- 
owned, investigated  at  arm's  length  for  fear  that  the 
contagion  might  possess  the  investigator. 

The  humanness  and  fallibility  of  convicted  and 
unconvicted  alike  have  raised  a  barrier  between  the 
prisoner  and  those  who  attempted  to  study  him. 
His  criminal  characteristics,  his  love  of  evil,  and  the 
outlawry  of  his  practices  have  all  been  discussed  in 
the  third  person,  but  it  has  been  dangerous  to  admit  ' 
that  he  is  simply  a  man  like  ourselves,  the  difference 
being  that  a  chance  turn  of  the  wheel  of  justice  has 
singled  out  one  of  his  acts  and  condemned  it  with  the 
power  of  the  law. 

vii 


viii  INTRODUCTION 

But  the  new  day  has  dawned  for  the  prisoner.  At 
last  we  look  for  ourselves ! 

Having  brought  the  study  of  the  prisoner  to  the 
basis  of  scientific  reality,  having  divorced  from  our  / 
discussion  the  thought  of  our  own  superiority  and 
having  sought  the  interpretation  of  the  problem  from 
the  only  one  who  can  really  interpret  it  —  the  pris- 
oner himself  —  we  can  feel  that  our  effort  will  reach 
to  the  heart  of  a  great  problem,  that  our  rising  knowl- 
edge will  help  to  lift  the  whole  superstructure  of 
society. 

What  have  we  learned  ?  That  our  former  methods  V 
of  dealing  with  the  prisoner  have  sent  him  from  the 
prison  less  able  than  at  entrance  to  conform  to  the 
standards  of  society;  that  we  must  call  upon  the 
physician,  the  psychiatrist,  to  help  discover  what 
manner  of  man  the  prisoner  is;  that  we  must  fit 
him  for  outside  life  through  industrial  training, 
through  educational  methods,  through  responsibility 
assumed  in  governing  himself;  and  that  we  must 
stand  beside  him  on  release  and  aid  him  in  making 
those  social  contacts  through  which  he  can  re- 
establish himself.  . 

After  seven  years  of  scientific  study  and  personal 
investigation,  the  National  Committee  on  Prisons 
and  Prison  Labor  is  in  position  to  point  to  the  solu- 
tion of  these  several  problems,  to  call  upon  those 
associated  in  its  work  for  authoritative  recommenda- 
tion —  based  on  personal  experience. 

What  is  the  pressing  need  to-day?  Men  and 
women  to  carry  on  the  work ;  men  and  women  with 
the  broad  conception  of  the  problem,  trained  to  meet 


INTRODUCTION  ix 

the  issues  it  presents.  Such  workers  the  Committee 
is  prepared  to  train.  Through  the  cooperation  of 
the  President  and  Trustees  of  Columbia  University, 
courses  have  been  established  in  practical  penal 
problems,  and  another  year,  it  is  hoped,  will  see  these 
courses  available  through  correspondence  to  students 
throughout  the  United  States.  • 

The  perusal  of  the  articles  contained  in  the  follow- 
ing pages  will  convince  the  reader  that  there  has  been 
secured  a  broad,  scientific  background  of  fact  upon 
which  can  be  based  in  the  years  to  come  the  training 
of  prison  workers,  the  constructive  reform  of  our 
institutions,  and  the  accurate  case  study  of  individ- 
uals in  these  institutions  —  development  which  can 
only  follow  the  routing  of  the  forces  of  exploitation 
and  the  establishment  of  the  new  relationship  with 
the  man  in  prison. 

E.  S.  W. 


CONTENTS 

PAGE 

Introduction vii 

Cases  Cited  •  xv 


I  The  Prisoner  and  the  Courts     ...        1 

BY   WILLIAM   H.    WADHAMS 

Judge,  Court  of  General  Sessions,  New  York  City 

II  The  Prisoner  Himself         .      \:.        .        .      21 

PART  I 

BY  BERNARD   H.    GLUECK,    M.D. 
Director,  Psychiatric  Clinic,  Sing  Sing  Prison 

PART  H 

BY  THOMAS  W.    SALMON,   M.D. 
Medical  Director,  National  Committee  for  Mental 
Hygiene 

III  The  Prisoner  —  Ward  or  Slave?        .        .      47 

BY  KARL  W.   KIRCHWEY 
Of  the  New  York  Bar 

IV  The  Control  over  the  Prisoner  .        .        .      81 

PART  I  —  FEDERAL 
BY   GEORGE   GORDON   BATTLE 
Chairman,   Committee  on  the   Federal   Office  of 
Prisons,   National   Committee    on   Prisons   and 
Prison  Labor 

xi 


rii  CONTENTS 

CHAPTEB  PAOH 

PART  II  —  STATE 
BY   E.    STAGG   WHITIN,    PH.D. 
Chairman,  Executive  Council,  National  Commit- 
tee on  Prisons  and  Prison  Labor 

V   Self-Government  by  the  Prisoner    .         .       99 
PART  I  —  SELF-GOVERNMENT  IN  A  STATE  PRISON 
BY   THOMAS   MOTT   OSBORNE 
Former  Warden  Sing  Sing  Prison,  New  York 

PART  II  —  SELF-GOVERNMENT  IN  A  REFORMATORY 

BY   E.    KENT   HUBBARD 

Treasurer,  Connecticut  State  Reformatory 

VI   The  Prison  Officer  ,        .        *         .     115 

BY   FREDERICK   A.    DORNER 
Former  Principal  Keeper,  Sing  Sing  Prison,  New 
York 

VII  Industrial  Training  for  the  Prisoner        .     125 

BY  ARTHUR   D.    DEAN,    SC.D. 

Director  of  Agricultural  and  Industrial  Educa- 
tion, New  York  State  Department  of  Educa- 
tion, and  Professor  of  Vocational  Education, 
Teachers  College,  Columbia  University 

VIII   The  Prisoner  in  the  Road  Camp     .        .     151 

BY   CHARLES   HENRY   DAVIS 
President,  National  Highways  Association 

IX   The  Union  Man  and  the  Prisoner  .  .      .163 

BY   COLLIS   LOVELY 

Vice  President,  International  Boot  and  Shoe 
Workers'  Union 


CONTENTS  xiii 

CHAPTER  PAGE 

X  The  Man  Who  Comes  out  of  Prison       .     177 

BY   R.    J.    CALDWELL 

Chairman,  Committee  on  Employment,  National 
Committee  on  Prisons  and  Prison  Labor 

XI   The   Community  Center   and   the  De- 
linquent      .         .         .         .         .         .     187 

BY   JOHN   COLLIER 

Director,  The  Training  School  for  Community 
Workers,  New  York ;  Secretary  National  Com- 
munity Center  Association 

Index  203 


CASES  CITED 


Anderson  v.  Crescent  Gar- 
ment Co 52 

Andrews  v.  Page,  3  Heisk. 
(Tenn.)  635,  668 55 

Avery  v.  Everett,  110  N. 
Y.  317 62 

Harrington    v.    Logan,    2 

Dana  (Ky.)  432,  434 ...  63 
Bowles  v.  Habermann,  95 

N.  Y.  246 62 

Buchalew  v.  Tennessee 

Coal,  etc.  Co.,  112  Ala. 

146,157(1895) 68,73 

Clyatt,  United  States,  197 
U.S.  207,  218 73 

Craig's  Adm'r  v.  Lee,  53 
Ky.  96 59 

Cunningham  v.  Bay  State, 
25  Hun.  210 63 

Dassler,   In  re,  35  Kans. 

678,  684  (1886) 69 

Dave  v.  State,  22  Ala.  23, 

34 56 

Exeter  v.  Warwick,  1  R.  I. 
63,  65 68 

Gaudet  v.  Gourdain,  3  La. 

Ann.  136 55 

Gist  v.  Toohey,  2  Rich.  (S. 

C.)  424 62 


Guardian  of  Sally  v.  Beaty, 
lBay(S.C.)  260 54 

Hall  v.  U.  S.,  92  U.  S.  27 .  .   62 

Jackson  v.  Lervey,  5  Cow. 

(N.  Y.)  397 55 

James  v.  Carper,  4  Sneed 

(Tenn.)  397 59 

Jameson  v.  McCoy,  5  Heisk. 

(Tenn.)  108 55 

Kennedy  v.  Meara,  127  Ga. 

68,77 68,74 

Kenyon    v.    Saunders,    18 

R.  I.  590,  592 54,69 

La  Chapelle  v.  Burpee,  69 
Hun.  436 62 

Latimer  v.  Alexander,  14 
Ga.  259 59 

Mayor  etc.  of  Monroe  v. 

Meuer,  35  La.  Ann.  1192     69 
Miller  v.  D willing,  14  Serg. 

and  R.  442 63 

Nelson  v.  People,  33  HI.  390 
(lS64<),semble.  . 58 

Nugent  v.  Arizona  Co.,  173 
U.  S.  338 67 

Oliver  v.  Sale,  Quincy 
(Mass.)  29  note 55 


XVI 


CASES  CITED 


Oliver  ».  State,  39  Miss. 
526,  539 56 

Peonage  Cases,   123  Fed. 

(1903) 69 

People  v.  Hawkins,  157 

N.  Y.  1 170 

Plessy  v.  Ferguson,  163 

U.  S.  537 53 

Rice  v.  Cade,  10  La.  288, 
294 54 

Robertson  v.  Baldwin,  165 
U.S.  275,  282 69,74 

Slaughter  House  Cases,  16 
Wall.  36,  42 66 


Stenhouse   v.    Bonum,    12 

Rich.  (S.  C.)  620 62 

Stephani  v.  Lent,  63  Supp. 

(N.  Y.)  471 62 

St.  Louis,  etc.  v.  Boyle,  83 

Ark.  302 63 

St.  Louis,  etc.  Co.  v.  Hy- 

drick  (1913),  160  S.  W. 

(Ark.)  196 62 

Topeka  v.  Boutwell,  53 
Kans.  20,  27  L.  R.  A. 
593  (1894) 69 

Westbrook  v.  State,  133 
Ga.  578,  585  (1909) . .  .62,  72 

Wicks  v.  Chew,  4  H.  &  J. 
(Md.)  543,  547 62 


CHAPTER  I 
THE  PRISONER  AND  THE  COURTS 

BY  WILLIAM  H.  WADHAMS 
Judge,  Court  of  General  Sessions,  New  York  City 


CHAPTER  I 
THE  PRISONER  AND  THE  COURTS 

BEFORE  considering  how  to  do  a  thing  it  is  impor- 
tant to  know  what  the  thing  is  that  you  want  to  do. 
The  first  inquiry,  therefore,  before  discussing  method 
is  to  consider  purpose.  It  is  generally  admitted 
by  thoughtful  minds  that  the  purpose  of  the  ad- 
ministration of  the  criminal  law  is  not  the  avenging 
of  society  on  the  wrongdoer;  not  the  infliction  of/ 
punishment  for  the  sake  of  getting  even.  It  must 
be  generally  conceded  that  the  purpose  of  the  ad- 
ministration of  the  criminal  law  is  to  protect  society 
against  the  commission  of  crime.  In  order  that  the 
community  may  enjoy  life,  liberty,  and  the  pursuit 
of  happiness,  ever  since  organized  communities  have 
existed,  certain  rules  of  conduct  have  been  pre- 
scribed, the  violation  of  which  has  been  termed 
crime.  Different  rules  have  prevailed  at  different 
periods  in  the  world's  history.  The  rules  are  also 
found  to  be  different  in  the  same  period  in  different 
countries,  and  even  in  the  same  country  in  different 
localities.  In  the  United  States  there  is  a  marked 
difference  in  the  several  States  in  the  definitions  of 
the  degrees  of  larceny  and  homicide.  As  these 
rules  are  made,  they  differ  according  to  the  character 

3 


4!      THE  PftlSON  AND  THE  PRISONER 


understanding  of  the  makers  and  represent  the 
views  of  the  lawmaking  powers.  Crime  is  the  do- 
ing of  that  which  is  prohibited  by  the  lawmaking 
power  of  a  particular  community. 

This  discussion  does  not  undertake  to  determine 
whether  all  the  laws  are  wise  or  unwise.  From  the 
time  when  Moses,  the  great  lawgiver,  returned  from 
Mt.  Sinai  with  the  ten  commandments,  rules  of 
conduct  have  been  formulated  by  ecclesiastic  and 
temporal  power.  It  may  be  said,  as  in  the  making 
of  books  so  in  the  making  of  laws,  there  is  no  end. 
Each  succeeding  year  the  duly  constituted  law- 
makers return  from  their  several  Sinais  with  new 
books  of  the  law.  This  must  necessarily  be  so,  as 
these  rules  of  conduct  represent  the  consensus  of 
opinion,  at  least  the  opinion  that  has  power  to  make 
the  law  for  the  time,  as  to  what  is  desirable  and 
necessary  for  the  protection  of  society.  The  deter- 
mination of  what  shall  constitute  crime  is  in  the 
hands  of  the  lawmakers.  The  legislatures  not  only 
formulate  the  definitions  of  crime  but  also  make  the 
laws  with  respect  to  the  procedure,  the  penalties, 
the  administration  and  government  of  penal  institu- 
tions. The  law  may,  therefore,  be  divided  on  this 
topic  into  two  heads,  the  definition  of  what  crime  is 
and  the  regulations  with  respect  to  the  administra- 
tion of  the  criminal  law. 

/  The  function  of  the  courts  is  to  determine  whether 
crime,  as  defined,  has  been  committed  and  having 
so  determined  to  pronounce  sentence  in  accordance 
with  the  law.  The  endless  procession  of  the  un- 
fortunate and  the  vicious  who  are  charged  with  the 


THE  PRISONER  AND  THE  COURTS     5 

commission  of  crimes  passes  before  the  judge. 
Men,  women,  and  children  are  brought  before  the 
court  by  the  police.  It  may  be  said  with  truth  that 
in  the  last  analysis  they  are  not  brought  in  by  the 
police,  although  the  police  are  the  instruments  of 
arrest,  but  that  often  they  are  the  victims  of  social 
conditions  which  arrest  their  lives  and  bring  them 
into  court.  If  there  is  to  be  any  permanent  pre- 
vention of  crime,  it  must  be  stopped  at  the  source 
by  changing  the  conditions  which  lead  to  crime.\ 
The  submerging  power  of  poverty,  failure  in  the 
care  and  culture  of  children,  careless  neglect  of  the 
unadjusted  and  defective  are  undoubtedly  some  of 
the  underlying  causes  of  crime  and  lead  to  what  is 
generally  termed  bad  environment,  such  as  conges- 
tion, bad  housing,  unemployment,  and  the  abuse  of 
drink,  which  are  so  often  found  to  be  the  imme- 
jliate  ^nciting  causes  of  crime.  These  questions 
present  the  great  struggle  of  the  human  race,  and 
it  must  be  conceded  that  they  are  the  more  impor- 
tant questions.  But  we  have  to  turn  our  attention 
to  the  immediate  need  of  things,  and  conditions  be-  , 
ing  as  they  are  and  crime  being  committed,  what 
shall  be  done  Vith  the  offender  that  society  may 
best  be  protected? 

The  emphasis  has  heretofore  been  laid  upon  the 
capture  and  conviction  of  the  offender.  It  was  not 
long  ago  that  the  criminal  was  permanently  put  out 
of  the  way,  even  for  minor  offenses,  by  hanging. 
As  late  as  1794,  men  were  hanged  in  the  State  of  New 
York  for  larceny.  When  juries  would  no  longer 
convict  in  such  cases,  the  pressure  of  public  opinion 


6      THE  PRISON  AND  THE  PRISONER 

changed  the  punishment  to  imprisonment,  and 
apparently  the  only  thought  was  that  the  offender 
should  be  safely  locked  up.  When  it  has  been  estab- 
lished that  the  offender  has  violated  the  rules  which 
society  has  made  for  its  protection,  and  it  appears 
likely  that  he  will  violate  them  again,  the  offender 
must  be  set  apart  for  a  time.  Under  this  system, 
when  the  time  of  his  detention  terminates,  he  is 
released.  The  great  contribution  of  Thomas  Mott 
Osborne  is  the  emphasis  which  he  has  placed  upon 
the  fact  that  under  the  prison  sentence  method  the 
offender  comes  back.  At  the  end  of  his  sentence  he  is 
returned  to  society.  Under  the  old  prison  method 
frequently  he  returned  crushed  in  body  and  in 
mind  by  reason  of  his  neglect  and  confinement,  less 
equipped  to  take  his  place  in  the  community  than 
when  he  went  in,  and  often  filled  with  a  spirit  of 
hatred  and  revenge,  a  worse  man  than  when  he 
went  in.  The  result  was  that  he  failed  to  take  his 
place  in  society,  returned  to  commit  crime  again, 
and  if  caught  was  sent  to  prison  for  another  term. 
An  investigation  has  shown  that  over  sixty  per  cent 
of  the  men  in  Sing  Sing  Prison,  New  York,  had  been 
in  jail  before,  many  of  them  many  times  before. 
In  a  recent  tour  of  prisons  of  twelve  States  I  found 
no  case  in  which  less  than  fifty  per  cent  of  the  inmates 
of  the  prisons  were  old  offenders;  in  some  cases 
the  estimates  given  by  the  keepers  and  wardens 
were  as  high  as  ninety  per  cent.  In  one  convict 
camp  the  entire  "gang"  had  been  in  prison  before. 
The  jails,  reformatories,  penitentiaries,  and  prisons 
have  been  turning  out  a  veritable  army  of  ex-con- 


THE  PRISONER  AND  THE  COURTS     7 

victs.1  When  the  percentage  of  those  who  are  caught 
and  returned  to  the  prisons  because  they  have  again 
committed  crimes  is  considered,  it  is  obvious  that 
the  State  is  deeply  concerned  to  bring  about  an 
administration  of  prisons  which  will  lessen  the  num- 
ber of  habitual  offenders.  As  a  matter  of  self -pro- 
tection it  is  only  common  sense  to  take  measures  to 
protect  the  community  against  the  coming  back  of 
these  men.  While  in  jail  these  offenders  are  the 
wards  of  the  State.  The  State  has  a  responsibility, 
which  it  cannot  avoid,  to  take  that  care  which  will 
best  insure  against  the  recommission  of  crime  by 
these  wards  when  they  are  released. 

In  reviewing  the  cases  which  have  passed  before 
me  in  the  Court  of  General  Sessions  in  the  City  of 
New  York,  I  have  been  impressed  with  the  large 
number  of  men  —  approximately  one  in  three  — 
who  have  criminal  records.2  Many  of  them  began 
in  juvenile  institutions  from  which  they  were  ap- 
parently graduated  to  reformatories,  penitentiaries, 

JThe  number  discharged  or  paroled  in  1910  from  New  York  penal 
institutions,  as  shown  by  the  last  United  States  Census,  was  from  State 
prisons  and  penitentiaries  1,421,  from  State  reformatories  1,894,  from 
County  jails  and  workhouses  37,353,  from  Municipal  jails  and  work- 
houses 2,886,  from  institutions  for  juvenile  delinquents  2,337,  making 
the  total  number  discharged  from  New  York  State  jails  in  one  year 
45,885.  The  total  number  discharged  in  1910  from  all  jails  in  the  United 
States  was  468,277. 

2  In  1914,  the  total  number  of  convictions  in  the  Court  of  General 
Sessions  of  the  City  and  County  of  New  York  was  3,724,  of  whom  1,227 
had  been  in  jail  before.  In  1915,  the  total  number  of  convictions  was 
3,728,  of  which  number  1,348  were  old  offenders,  and  in  1916,  the  total 
number  of  convictions  was  2,834,  of  whom  1,113  had  been  previously 
convicted. 


8     THE  PRISON  AND  THE  PRISONER 

and  State  prisons.  Many  of  them  were  obviously 
feeble-minded  or  mentally  deficient.'  The  Great 
Britain  Royal  Commission  on  the  Care  of  the  Feeble- 
minded, which  made  the  most  elaborate  study  of 
the  problem  ever  undertaken,  in  discussing  the  rela- 
tionship of  mental  deficiency  to  crime,  gives  10.28 
per  cent  as  an  extremely  conservative  estimate  of 
the  proportion  of  feeble-minded  in  the  prison  popu- 
lation.1 Doctor  Henry  H.  Goddard,  writing  on 
the  situation  in  this  country,  states:  "Although 
we  cannot  determine  at  present  just  what  the 
proportion  is,  probably  from  25  %  to  50  %  of  the 
people  in  our  prisons  are  mentally  defective  and 
incapable  of  managing  their  affairs  with  ordinary 
prudence."  2  Of  course,  feeble-mindedness  may  be 
variously  defined,  but  the  lower  grades  which  are 
unable  to  care  for  themselves  or  to  adjust  themselves 
to  their  surrounding  social  conditions  may  be  readily 
ascertained. 

\  Among  the  prisoners  there  are  also  a  large  num- 
ber who  are  not  prepared,  by  reason  of  lack  of  train- 
ing, mental  and  physical,  to  properly  provide  a 
living  for  themselves  or  those  dependent  upon  them, 
and  there  are  also  many  who  by  reason  of  environ- 
ment have  been  warped  but  who  are  capable  of 
correction. 

All  those  who  are  convicted  must  be  sentenced 
by  the  court.     Under  the  laws  of  New  York  State 

1  As  cited  in  the  Report  of  the  New  York  State  Commission  to  Investi- 
gate Provision  for  the  Mentally  Deficient,  1915,  p.  50. 

2  Henry  H.  Goddard,  "Feeble-mindedness  —  its  Causes  and  Conse- 
quences," p.  7. 


PRISONER  JtNt>  Ttit  COtfRT&     9 

and  in  many  other  States  there  is  a  choice  of  institu- 
tions and  of  the  length  of  sentence  which  may  be 
imposed.  In  some  States  there  is  neither  choice 
of  institutions  nor  of  the  length  of  sentence,  the 
sentence  being  prescribed  by  law  "to  fit"  the  crime, 
regardless  of  the  particular  facts  of  the  case.  The 
inadequacy  of  such  method  to  properly  protect 
society  against  the  commission  of  crime  is  obvious. 
With  growing  experience  new  lessons  should  be 
learned,  but  through  the  experience  of  the  last  few 
years,  while  attention  has  been  drawn  to  the  fact 
that  the  men  "come  back",  that  they  come  out  of 
prison  to  take  places  in  society,  a  point  has  been 
reached  where  certain  conclusions  may  be  drawn 
from  the  experiments  already  made. 

There   are   three    essentials   in   the   new   prisons, 
methods :    classification,  preparation  to  come  out, 
and  the  indeterminate  sentence. 

CLASSIFICATION.  The  records  show  that  certain  , 
types,  which  are  not  classified  in  law  as  legally  in- 
sane, are  a  menace,  often  even  more  dangerous  than 
the  insane.  A  feeble-minded  person  with  a  criminal 
tendency,  when  left  uncared  for,  will  recommit 
crime,  no  matter  how  many  times  he  has  been  in  jail. 
One  case  in  my  experience  may  be  sufficient  to  il- 
lustrate the  point.  In  1907,  a  boy  was  committed 
to  Randall's  Island,  it  being  known  at  the  time 
that  he  was  mentally  deficient.  At  the  end  of  his 
term  he  was  released  and  committed  another  crime, 
after  which  he  was  again  released;  he  committed 
a  third  crime  and  was  sent  to  the  penitentiary. 
Later,  he  was  brought  before  me,  having  committed 


10    THE  PRISON  AND  THE  PRISONER 

forcible  abduction  upon  a  schoolgirl.  No  institu- 
tion had  been  provided  by  the  State  of  New  York 
for  the  especial  care  of  the  feeble-minded  delinquent. 
Under  the  auspices  of  the  National  Committee  on 
Prisons  and  Prison  Labor,  and  with  the  aid  of  a 
generous  gift,  a  psychiatric  clinic  has  been  established 
at  Sing  Sing  Prison  for  the  purpose  of  examination 
and  classification  of  the  inmates,  and  it  is  a  part  of 
the  plan  of  the  new  Prison  Commission  of  New  York 
State  to  provide  for  the  suitable  care  and  custody 
of  defective  delinquents.  Recently,  the  legislature 
of  the  State  of  New  York  appointed  a  commission 
to  make  investigation  and  proper  provision  in  the 
State  for  such  cases.1 

Mentally  deficient  persons  with  criminal  tenden- 
cies should  be  under  proper  restraint  until  such  time 
as  it  appears  that  they  are  in  proper  condition  to 
be  released.  It  is  obvious  that  a  mentally  deficient 
person  should  be  removed  from  society  not  only 
for  his  own  protection  but  also  for  the  protection 
of  the  community,  and  for  like  reason  he  should  be 
set  apart  from  other  offenders  because  he  cannot 
adjust  himself  to  prison  life  with  normal  prisoners; 
he  interferes  with  the  industries  and  the  discipline 
of  the  prison,  and  before  his  status  is  understood 
he  is  often  abused  and  disciplined  for  faults  which 
he  cannot  help.  Classification  should  also  segre- 
gate those  who  are  suffering  from  infectious  venereal 
diseases  and  should  provide  for  the  separate  care 
of  those  who  have  tuberculosis.  It  is  extraordinary 

1  §  2,  sub-sec.  9,  c.  238,  N.  Y.  Laws,  1917,  known  as  Hospital  Develop- 
ment Commission. 


THE  PRISONER  AND  THE  COURTS    11 

that  in  many  States  the  first  step  in  classification, 
the  separation  of  children  from  adults  by  provision 
for  children's  courts  and  juvenile  institutional  care, 
has  not  been  taken. 

PREPARATION  TO  COME  OUT.  —  If  a  man  is  to 
take  his  place  in  society  when  released  from  prison, 
he  should  be  healthy  in  body.  Therefore,  his  hous- 
ing and  conditions  of  living  should  be  such  as  do 
not  destroy  his  health.1  He  should  have  sufficient 
air,  light,  exercise,  and  recreation  to  build  him  up. 
He  should  also  be  equipped  to  take  part  in  some  use- 
ful wage-earning  occupation.  It  is  for  this  reason 
that  vocational  and  trade  schools  have  been  intro- 
duced and  the  reorganization  of  prison  industries 
undertaken  with  a  view  not  only  to  produce  revenue 
for  the  State  but  also  to  afford  educational  facilities 
for  the  inmates  by  the  most  progressive  prison  man- 
agement. 

The  building  up  of  the  body  and  the  training  of 
the  mind  and  the  hand  are  not,  however,  in  them- 
selves sufficient  to  protect  society  against  the  com- 
mission of  crime  by  the  inmate  when  he  comes  out. 
They  help,  because  they  give  him  a  better  oppor- 
tunity to  face  the,  world  and  to  take  part  in  useful 
occupation,  but  bodily  health  and  mental  equipment 
may,  if  diverted  to  wrong  use,  only  make  a  more 
dangerous  criminal  of  the  offender.  Something 
more  is  needed.  Something  which  will  give  a  new 
motive  to  the  life,  which  will  create  a  new  attitude 

1  The  author  drafted  the  clause  which  provides  "for  the  demolition 
of  the  present  cell  house  and  cell  block  at  Sing  Sing."  (N.  Y.  Laws, 
1916,  c.  594.) 


12    THE  PRISON  AND  THE  PRISONER 

of  mind,  a  new  purpose  and  determination  to  make 
good.  The  most  approved  buildings,  educational 
classes,  industrial  schools,  even  outdoor  work,  will 
not  necessarily  produce  the  desired  result.  All 
these  improvements  and  changes  are  obviously  ap- 
propriate and  will  be  adopted  by  a  State  which 
undertakes  to  deal  in  an  intelligent  way  with  the 
prison  problem,  but  the  greatest  of  all  experiments 
which  has  been  made  in  prison  management,  the 
Mutual  Welfare  League,1  has  demonstrated,  even 
under  adverse  conditions,  adverse  conditions  of 
housing,  of  old  and  inadequate  machinery  for  the 
industries,  and  under  limitations  of  ancient  legal 
restrictions,  that  genuine  correction,  the  birth  of 
a  new  hope,  resolution  to  lead  correct  and  honest 
lives  and  the  actual  living  of  them  after  release, 
may  be  accomplished  by  the  simple  means  of  self- 
government  in  the  prisons.  By  this  method  the 
men  are  taught  a  sense  of  responsibility  to  the 
small  community  within  the  prison,  from  which 
they  learn  a  sense  of  responsibility  to  the  larger 
community  without  the  prison.  It  would  be  diffi- 
cult to  convince  any  one  by  assertion  that  the 
principle  of  democracy  so  applied  would  produce 
the  remarkable  results  which  it  has  achieved  among 
the  men  who  had  been  convicted  of  crime,  but  the 
facts  establish  the  case.  The  results  were  imme- 
diately noticeable  in  the  prison  itself.  It  was  ob- 
servable in  the  bearing  and  the  appearance  of  the 

1  Inaugurated  at  Auburn  Prison,  New  York,  February  1913 ;  and  at 
Sing  Sing  Prison,  New  York,  December,  1914,  by  Thomas  Mott 
Osborne. 


THE  PRISONER  AND  THE  COURTS    13 

men;  it  was  reflected  by  their  conduct  while  in 
prison.1 

But  the  best  proof  is  the  record  of  the  men  after 
coming  out  of  prison.  The  final  test  of  the  efficiency 
of  any  institution  from  the  point  of  view  of  accom- 
plishing the  desired  purpose  of  the  administration 
of  the  criminal  law,  namely  the  protection  of  society 
against  the  recommission  of  crime,  is  the  record  of  the 
convicts  after  their  release.  From  January  1,  1915, 
to  July  1,  1917,  hundreds  of  men  have  appeared 
before  me  who  have  been  released  from  penal  in- 
stitutions and  who  have  returned  to  the  commission 
of  crime,  but  during  that  entire  period  only  three 
have  been  brought  before  me  who  were  released 
from  Sing  Sing  Prison  since  the  Mutual  Welfare 
League  was  established.  Thinking  that  perhaps  my 
experience  was,  through  some  accident  of  chance, 
exceptional,  I  made  inquiry  and  have  a  letter  from 
the  Superintendent  of  Prisons  of  New  York,  Mr. 
Carter,  stating  that  during  the  year  1916,  among 
the  hundreds  who  had  been  released  from  Sing  Sing, 
only  fifteen  had  been  returned  for  the  recommission 
of  crime. 

The  old  prison  method  was  a  demonstrated  fail- 
ure, if  it  be  viewed  from  the  standpoint  of  the  record 
of  its  inmates  when  released  from  prison,  but  it  was 
a  record  which  was  to  be  expected  from  the  unin- 
telligent treatment  of  those  in  the  care  of  the  State. 

1  In  1912-1913,  with  a  prison  population  of  1,442,  the  surgeons  dressed 
387  wounds;  in  1913-1914,  with  a  prison  population  of  1,466,  they 
dressed  367  wounds,  and  in  1914-1915,  under  Mr.  Osborne,  with  a 
prison  population  of  1,616,  they  dressed  156  wounds,  or  a  decrease  of 
64  per  cent. 


14    THE  PRISON  AND  THE  PRISONER 

Now  that  we  know  better,  our  responsibility  is 
greater.  We  should  put  into  effect  as  rapidly  as 
possible  those  methods  which  have  produced  the 
best  results. 

SENTENCE.  Having  in  mind  that  the  convict 
is  to  come  out,  the  question  of  sentence  necessarily 
requires  consideration.  When  is  he  to  come  out  ? 
How  long  is  he  to  be  held?  The  obvious  answer  , 
is  that  he  should  be  released  when  he  is  ready  and 
equipped,  when  it  is  safe  for  him  to  be  released^: 
Under  the  present  method  in  some  States  the  jury, 
merely  hearing  the  facts  of  the  crime,  —  everything 
else  would  be  irrelevant  and  immaterial,  and  there- 
fore excluded,  —  determines  off-lfand  the  sentence, 
that  is,  when  the  defendant  shall  be  released.  In 
many  States,  as  in  the  State  of  New  York,  the  sen- 
tence is  fixed  by  the  judge  within  the  limitations 
of  the  law,  which  provides  a  maximum  which  he 
may  not  exceed,  and  in  some  instances  a  minimum 
which  he  must  impose.  How  long  should  the 
patient  be  detained  at  the  hospital?  The  answer 
is  until  he  is  cured.  But  who  can  tell  how  he  will 
respond  to  treatment  ?  Judges  are  called  upon,  with 
such  information  as  they  are  able  to  gather  at  the 
moment  —  generally  without  any  knowledge  of 
the  underlying  currents  of  the  man's  life,  of  his 
medical  history,  or  his  physical  condition,  of  his 
environment,  of  his  moral  qualities  excepting  as 
shown  by  the  particular  instance  before  the  judge  — 
to  determine  in  advance  just  how  long  the  defend- 
ant should  be  held.  When  that  time  expires  he 
is  released.  All  those  who  have  to  do  with  the 


THE  PRISONER  AND  THE  COURTS    15 

management  of  penal  institutions  know  perfectly 
well  that  inmates  are  released,  because  of  the  expira- 
tion of  their  terms,  who  are  a  menace  to  society 
and  a  danger  to  the  community.  On  the  other  hand, 
there  are  men  languishing  in  jail  who,  if  released, 
would  be  capable  of  leading  useful  lives. 

Appreciating  this  situation,  Doctor  Katherine  B. 
Davis,  George  W.  Kirchwey,  and  I  recommended 
the  passage  of  a  law  which  provided  for  what  might 
be  termed  an  experiment  in  a  genuine  indeterminate 
sentence.  A  bill  was  passed  1  and  has  been  in  opera- 
tion since  January  1,  1916.  It  is  commonly  known 
as  the  Parole  Law.  The  effect  of  its  provisions  is 
that  defendants  committed  by  judges  in  New  York 
City  to  the  workhouse  may  be  held  for  an  indeter- 
minate period  of  two  years  and  those  committed  to 
the  penitentiary  may  be  held  for  an  indeterminate 
period  of  three  years,  but  may  be  released  at  any 
time  before  such  maximum  upon  the  recommenda- 
tion of  the  Parole  Board,  and  in  the  case  of  those 
committed  to  the  penitentiary  with  the  approval  of 
the  court.  I  suggested  that  the  report  of  the  Parole 
Board  be  submitted  to  the  court  for  approval  for 
the  reason  that  by  this  method  the  recommendation 
of  the  Parole  Board  was  subject  to  judicial  review 
and  was  given  the  publicity  of  open  court,  with  an 
opportunity  for  any  one,  including  the  district 
attorney,  to  be  heard  in  opposition,  thereby  avoid- 
ing possible  objection  that  the  determination  to 
release  was  reached  by  a  board  in  executive  session, 

1  Chapter  579,  N.  Y.  Laws,  1915,  amended  by  c.  287,  N.  Y.  Laws, 
1916. 


16    THE  PRISON  AND  THE  PRISONER 

without  publicly  stating  its  reasons.  This  method 
has  worked  with  admirable  success.  During  the 
year  1916,  1,836  men  were  committed  to  the  peni- 
tentiary; of  these,  519  have  been  released  on  pa- 
role. Of  those  released,  54  have  violated  the  condi- 
tions of  their  parole  and  were  returned.  Of  the 
remaining  463  on  parole  about  96  per  cent  are  appar- 
ently endeavoring  to  make  good.  During  the  same 
year,  74  women  were  committed  to  the  penitentiary, 
sixteen  of  whom  have  been  released  on  parole;  of 
those  released,  only  one  has  violated  the  conditions 
of  her  parole  and  been  returned.  There  were  com- 
mitted to  the  workhouse  400  men  and  334  women 
in  1916.  Of  this  number,  114  men  and  109  women 
have  been  paroled.  Three  men  and  eight  women 
were  subsequently  returned  for  violation  of  their 
parole  or  have  been  arrested  for  other  offenses.1 

By  this  method,  instead  of  guessing  in  advance 
just  how  long  a  prisoner  shall  be  held,  the  court 
determines  in  view  of  all  the  circumstances  of  the 
crime  and  also  the  character  of  the  defendant,  upon 
application  and  hearing,  that  the  prisoner  may  now 
come  forth  from  the  prison  on  a  trial  of  liberty.  In- 
formation is  obtained  as  to  where  the  defendant  is 
going,  whether  he  has  employment,  whether  he  has 
relatives  or  friends  to  look  after  him.  He  is  always 
released  on  parole,  that  is,  a  trial  of  liberty,  and  if 
he  fails  to  make  good  may  be  returned.  The  sys- 
tem has  worked  so  well  in  penitentiary  sentences 
that  it  should  be  extended  to  State  prison  sentences. 

In  view  of  the  fact  that  by  long  custom  maximum 
1  Annual  Report,  1916,  N.  Y.  City  Parole  Commission. 


THE  PRISONER  AND  THE  COURTS    17 

sentences  for  different  crimes  have  been  established 
by  law,  the  transition  in  New  York  State  could 
be  easily  effected  by  allowing  the  maximums  to 
remain  as  they  are.  Upon  the  conviction  of  the 
defendant,  unless  sentence  was  suspended,  he  would 
merely  be  committed  by  the  court  to  State  prison, 
the  law  fixing  the  maximum  for  the  crime  as,  the 
longest  time  during  which  he  could  be  held,  with 
the  provision  that  upon  the  recommendation  of 
the  Parole  Board,  with  the  approval  of  the  court,  he 
could  be  sooner  released. 

The  question  as  to  the  deterrent  effect  of  pun-  x 
ishment  is  frequently  raised  by  sincere  inquirers 
as  to  the  best  method  to  be  pursued.  It  is  in- 
teresting to  note  that  there  are  several  classes 
of  persons  who  commit  crime  upon  whom  the 
thought  of  punishment  has  little  effect.  First, 
there  are  the  calculating  crooks  who  never  expect 
to  be  caught.  This  is  frequently  illustrated  by  old 
crooks  who  can  always  point  out  the  mistake  which 
led  to  detection  and  how  they  could  avoid  detection 
another  time.  Then  there  are  those  who  commit 
crime  in  the  heat  of  passion  without  thought  of  the 
consequences.  I  am  satisfied  from  my  observation 
that  the  effect  of  punishment  as  a  deterrent  has  been 
exaggerated.  It  was  supposed  that  crime  could 
be  suppressed  by  cruel  and  what  we  would  now  con- 
sider inhuman  treatment,  but  the  desired  result  was 
not  produced.  The  most  effective  result  is  produced 
by  swift  and  sure  conviction  in  case  of  guilt.  The 
punishment  consists  in  depriving  the  defendant  of 
his  liberty.  There  is  greater  deterrent  effect  in 


18    THE  PRISON  AND  THE  PRISONER 

treating  the  defendant  as  a  defective  or  inferior 
individual  who  may  not  safely  be  permitted  to 
mingle  with  his  fellows  unless  cured  than  in  treat- 
ing him  as  a  desperado  to  be  caged.  This  fact  has 
been  demonstrated  by  what  I  have  called  the  experi- 
ment, now  a  proved  success,  in  the  indeterminate 
sentence  to  the  penitentiary.  The  experience  of 
the  judges  in  New  York  City  has  been  that  the  inde- 
terminate sentence  has  proved  the  most  effective 
deterrent  yet  devised. 

When  I  was  in  Pittsburg  in  January,  1917,  I  was 
informed  by  the  warden  of  the  County  Jail  that 
since  the  passage  of  the  indeterminate  sentence 
law  in  New  York  State  large  numbers  of  pickpockets 
who  would  have  been  subject  to  that  sentence  had 
come  from  New  York  City  to  ply  their  trade  in  Pitts- 
burg,  and  the  decrease  in  the  number  of  those  charged 
with  larceny  from  the  person  in  New  York  City  has 
been  noticeable.  The  indeterminate  sentence  is  an 
effective  deterrent  for  the  reasons  :  first,  the  defendant 
knows  that  he  has  no  chance  to  obtain  a  light  sen- 
tence, since  the  sentence  is  alike  no  matter  who  is 
the  judge,  and  the  defendant  always  has  to  run  the 
risk  of  being  held  the  maximum  term,  his  earlier 
release  depending  upon  genuine  guarantees  that  he 
can  make  good  and  will  make  good  when  released; 
and,  second,  when  released,  the  defendant  comes 
out  on  parole,  and  if  he  fails  to  make  good  must 
return  and  may  be  held  for  the  remainder  of  his 
term.  The  indeterminate  sentence,  therefore,  makes 
for  uniformity  of  sentence  and  is  also  a  great  stimulus 
to  the  offender  to  correct  his  ways  and  make  good. 


THE  PRISONER  AND  THE  COURTS    19 

Through  classification  the  incapable  may  be 
cared  for ;  through  preparation  those  who  are  capa- 
ble may  be  fitted  for  honest  and  useful  lives; 
through  the  indeterminate  sentence  release  may  be 
granted  when  the  capable  are  ready  to  be  returned 
to  society.  By  these  means  society  will  be  better 
protected  against  the  commission  of  crime.  ^ 


CHAPTER  II 
THE  PRISONER  HIMSELF 

PART  I 

BY  BERNARD  H.  GLUECK,  M.D. 
Director,  Psychiatric  Clinic,  Sing  Sing  Prison 

PART  II 

BY  THOMAS  W.  SALMON,  M.D. 
Medical  Director,  National  Committee  for  Mental  Hygiene 


CHAPTER  II 
THE  PRISONER  HIMSELF 

PART  I 

THE  relation  of  the  prisoner  to  the  various  agencies 
with  which  he  comes  in  contact  during  his  intra- 
mural career  are  ably  discussed  by  the  several  con- 
tributors to  this  volume.  There  remains  for  consid- 
eration another  important  relationship,  that  is,  the 
relationship  of  the  prisoner  to  himself.  To  one  who  v 
subscribes  to  the  theory  of  absolute  psychic  deter- 
minism, to  the  belief  that  nothing  in  life  happens 
fortuitously,  but  is  the  result  of  antecedent  factors, 
the  discussion  of  the  latter  relationship  at  once  as- 
sumes a  leading  place  in  a  book  dealing  with  the 
prisoner.  The  ultimate  success  of  any  remedial 
agencies  that  may  be  applied  to  this  problem  depends 
in  the  first  place  upon  a  proper  acquaintance  with 
causative  factors.  The  writer,  of  course,  assumes 
that  we  are  all  in  agreement  concerning  the  function 
of  a  modern  system  of  penology,  namely :  that  it  is  v 
primarily  intended  to  be  remedial,  reconstructive, 
reformative,  and  not  purely  punitive  in  its  aims.' 

Society  has,  at  all  times,  endeavored  to  formulate 
conceptions  regarding  causative  factors  of  crime, 
some  of  which,  though  born  in  the  infancy  of  the  race, 
are  still  adhered  to  tenaciously  by  a  large  portion  of 

23 


24    THE  PRISON  AND  THE  PRISONER 

mankind.  These  notions  concerning  the  causation 
of  criminal  behavior  naturally  suggested  certain 
remedies  which  society  has  been  assidupusly  applying 
in  its  effort  to  cure  itself  of  this  evil.  How  effective, V 
or  more  correctly  how  ineffective,  these  remedies 
have  been  is  common  knowledge.  But  contrary  to 
the  prevailing  belief,  one  is  tempted  to  venture  the 
suggestion  that  the  fault  does  not  lie  entirely  with  the 
remedy,  but  that  it  is  the  promiscuous,  unintelligent, 
blind  manner  of  its  administration  that  has  had  a 
great  deal  to  do  with  its  inefficiency.  What  would 
one  think,  for  instance,  of  a  modern  hospital  where 
all  the  patients  were  to  receive  the  same  medicine, 
the  only  variation  being  in  the  amount  administered 
or  in  the  length  of  time  that  a  given  patient  is  sub- 
jected to  the  treatment.  And  yet,  we  are  doing  just  * 
this  very  thing  in  promiscuously  sending  all  offenders 
against  society  to  prisons,  where  no  attempt  is  made 
at  individualization,  either  in  the  application  of  the 
punitive  phase  of  prison  administration  or  in  its  re- 
formative phase.  Those  who  have  given  attention 
to  this  problem  are  quite  convinced  that  Healy's 
dictum  that  the  problem  of  delinquency  will  ever 
remain  a  problem  of  the  individual  delinquent  is  a 
correct  one.  There  are  very  few  phenomena  common 
to  all  offenders,  even  to  all  chronic  offenders.  There 
are  very  few  factors  which  are  wholly  responsible 
for  the  criminality  of  all  chronic  offenders,  or  even 
for  the  criminality  of  a  large  majority  of  them.  And 
yet,  we  persist  in  our  endeavors  to  fit  all  these 
extremely  varying  units  into  a  uniform  system  of 
penology  or  reformation. 


THE  PRISONER  HIMSELF  25 

We  cannot  hope  to  succeed  in  any  effort  towards  " 
reformation  if  we  do  not  start  out  with  the  convic- 
tion that  human  beings  vary  within  very  wide  limits 
in  their  susceptibility  to  correction  or  reformation; 
that  some  individuals,  because  of  their  psychological 
make-up,  either  qualitative  or  quantitative,  are 
absolutely  or  permanently  incorrigible  and  have  to 
be  dealt  with  in  only  one  way,  and  that  is  permanent 
segregation  and  isolation  from  society  1  If  there  is 
a  single  phenomenon  which  is  common  to  all  careers 
of  chronic,  antisocial  behavior,  it  is  this  :  The  chronic 
offender  against  society  has,  for  one  reason  or  an- 
other, never  succeedecTin  adequately  "differartratitig 
himself  from  the  environment  in  which  he  is  obliged 
to  live,  an  absbititeessentiaMiriEe  Devolution  from 
savagery  to  civilization.  Thus,  on  the  one  hand, 
he,  has  failed  to  develop  a  .dear  conr.ept.ion .  oLprop- 
ert^ngljis;  while  on  the  other  hand,  he  lacks  the 
appreciation  of  and  respect  for  1.1  m  )ii-rn  f]| ,  in  frf 
individual,  of  the  laws  and  prescriptions  which 
society  has  imposed  upon  its  members  for  the  regu- 
lation of  their  conduct.  Now,  there  are  many 
reasons  why  an  individual  may  have  failfidla.  attain 
this  differentiation,  but  whatever  these  reasons  are, 
it  cannot  be  denied  that  failure  in  this  respect  forms 
the  greatest  and  most  important  debit,  which  it 
should  be  our  aim  to  equalize  by  adequate  credits 
during  the  individual's  sojourn  in  a  penal  institution. 
Any  attempt  in  this  direction  means  intense  speciali- 
zation, and  it  is  this  recognition  of  the  need  for  spe- 
cialization that  has  prompted  the  establishment  of 
the  Reception  Prison. 


26    THE  PRISON  AND  THE  PRISONER 

Starting  out  with  the  conception  that  an  individual 
whom  society  has  elected  to  isolate  from  its  midst 
for  a  certain  perioct  of  time  and  confine  within  a  cer- 
tain specialized  environment  labors  under  the  burden 
of  a  deficiency,  of  a  debit  which  has  caused  his  iso- 
lation, it  should  be  the  function  of  the  Reception 
Prison  to  first  make  possible  an  accurate  delineation 
of  that  debit,  and  second  to  outline  the  type  of 
credits  that  would  tend  to  equalize  it.  Thus,  the 
primary  function  of  the  Reception  Prison  is  the  in- 
tensive study  of  the  individual  so  that  a  proper  esti- 
mate of  his  personality  may  be  gained,  and  to  exert 
its  influence  through  the  various  reconstructive 
methods  which  are  at  present  at  hand  or  may  be 
introduced  in  the  future  with  the  view  of  bringing 
about  a  proper  adaptation,  or  a  proper  coordi- 
nation between  the  individual  prisoner  and  these 
agencies. , 

Doctor  Salmon  will  discuss  the  administration  of 
the  Reception  Prison  and  the  methods  of  operation 
as  devised  by  experts  in  the  allied  fields  of  medicine 
and  psychiatry.  ^  I  will  only  say  in  passing  that  to 
the  psychiatrist  it  seems  that  too  little  attention  has 
been  paid  in  the  past  to  those  instinctive  and  un- 
conscious forces  which  are  operative  in  the  control 
and  direction  of  human  conduct.  More  attention 
should  likewise  be  paid  to  antenatal  determinants, 
more  especially  to  those  traits  of  character  which  are 
dominant  in  the  lives  of  the  antecedents,  both  indi- 
vidual and  racial.  The  life  of  the  mother  and  the 
influences  under  which  she  was  obliged  to  live  during 
the  period  of  gestation,  the  story  of  the  birth,  of  in- 


THE  PRISONER  HIMSELF  27 

fancy  and  childhood,  all  of  these  deserve  special  at- 
tention. The  succeeding  period,  which  embraces 
perhaps  the  most  important  epoch  in  an  individual's 
life,  namely,  the  epoch  of  the  emancipation  of  the 
individual  from  his  parental  bonds,  should  consti- 
tute a  very  interesting  subject  of  study.  Next, 
school  and  occupational  career,  and  the  evolution 
of  the  conscious  sex  life  of  the  individual,  are  of  great 
importance.  A  due  amount  of  interest  should  be 
accorded  to  extrinsic  insults  to  which  the  individual 
may  have  been  subjected  and  which  may  have  had 
an  influence  in  determining  his  career  of  crime. 
There  can  be  no  doubt  that  during  the  early  stages 
of  the  evolution  of  a  psychosis,  there  are  many 
possibilities  of  going  astray  in  the  line  of  antisocial 
behavior  —  at  any  rate,  this  is  being  illustrated  to  a 
rather  surprising  extent  in  our  work  at  Sing  Sing. 
Then  comes  the  period  of  decline,  of  loss  of  efficiency, 
of  the  endeavor  to  compensate  for  powers  and  abili- 
ties that  one  feels  slipping  away  from  under  his  con- 
trol, which  endeavors  sometimes  express  themselves 
in  antisocial  behavior.  The  importance  of  the  field 
investigation  of  a  great  part  of  the  life  history  of 
the  individual  should  not  be  overlooked.  Detailed, 
comprehensive  study  of  the  individual,  such  as  has 
been  outlined  above,  cannot  help  but  furnish  us  with 
a  dependable  estimate  of  the  human  being  before  us, 
and  must  naturally  aid  us  very  materially  in  out- 
lining a  course  of  procedure  necessary  for  bringing 
about  an  adequate,  socially  acceptable  balance. 

What  is  to  be  done,  after  such  estimate  has  been 
reached,  cannot  be  outlined  in  detail.     The  variations 


28    THE  PRISON  AND  THE  PRISONER 

are  bound  to  be  so  extensive  and  the  nature  of  the 
reconstructive  agencies  so  protean  as  to  make  it  im- 
possible to  start  out  with  a  well-formulated  outline. 
One  thing  is  true,  that  whatever  agencies  there  may 
be  at  hand,  these  should  be  directed  towards  bringing 
about  a  proper  adjustment  between  the  individual 
and  the  environment.  Certain  activities  in  an  in- 
dustrial way,  in  a  vocational  way,  in  a  purely  educa- 
tional way  suggest  themselves,  but  only  as  general- 
ities. The  ultimate  application  of  these  activities 
must,  in  the  final  analysis,  be  determined  by  the 
individual  who  is  to  benefit  from  them.  Were  it 
not  for  the  fact  that  one  cannot  escape  a  great  deal 
of  blatant  criticism  at  the  hands  of  penologists  of 
the  older  order  of  things,  we  would  not  stop  here 
even  to  mention  the  fact  that  in  this  proposed  scheme 
too  much  emphasis  is  being  laid  on  the  individual 
and  too  little  on  society's  share  in  a  penal  system. 
But  there  is  only  one  answer  to  this,  and  that  is  that 
society  can  ultimately  only  benefit  by  applying  its 
efforts  toward  reconstructing  the  individual  offender, 
that  its  benefits  can  only  be  proportionate  to  the 
benefits  in  the  evolution  of  the  personality  which  will 
accrue  to  the  prisoner  as  a  result  of  his  sojourn  in 
a  penal  institution.  So  much  for  the  internal  ad- 
ministration of  the  Receiving  Station. 

There  is  one  other  activity  to  which  such  an 
institution  would  admirably  lend  itself,  and  that  is 
its  association  with  an  outside  educational  insti- 
tution. One  does  not  have  to  argue  extensively  that 
the  place  to  study  the  criminal  and  the  place  to 
acquire  knowledge  concerning  the  subject  of  anti- 


THE  PRISONER  HIMSELF  29 

social  behavior  is  the  prison.  No  amount  of  abstract 
discussion  of  crime  and  punishment,  of  original  sin 
or  more  concrete  causes  of  antisocial  behavior  will 
ever  bring  us  any  nearer  to  the  solution  of  the  problem 
before  us.  Crime  cannot  exist  apart  from  the  crimi- 
nal, and  it  is  the  criminal  as  a  human  being,  acting, 
feeling,  and  willing,  who  must  teach  us  the  nature, 
the  causes,  and  the  cure  of  criminal  behavior.  A 
Reception  Prison,  such  as  is  planned  for  the  prison 
system  of  the  State  of  New  York,  could  articulate  in 
many  ways  with  an  educational  institution.  First, 
it  could  offer  to  such  an  institution  an  admirable 
course  in  clinical  criminology.  Second,  it  could  offer 
a  very  fertile  field  for  research  on  the  basis  of  fellow- 
ships to  be  carried  on  in  conjunction  with  work  at 
the  university.  Third,  it  could  avail  itself  of  the 
affiliation  with  the  university  to  bring  into  the  prison 
such  extension  courses  as  may  be  of  benefit  in  carry- 
ing out  the  reconstructive  aims  of  the  prison.  Such, 
in  brief,  is  a  general  survey  of  the  work  that  it  is 
planned  to  carry  out  at  Sing  Sing,  and  which  it  is 
hoped  can  be  suggestive  to  institutions  throughout 
the  country. 

PART  II 

The  general  principles  which  underlie  the  effort 
to  determine  the  relationship  of  the  prisoner  to  him- 
self have  been  outlined  by  Doctor  Glueck.  It  is  there- 
fore fitting  to  discuss  some  of  the  specific  methods 
which  are  being  put  into  operation  at  the  experi- 
mental station  established  at  Sing  Sing  Prison,  which 
is  to  serve  as  the  clearing  house  for  the  prisoners  of 


30    THE  PRISON  AND  THE  PRISONER 

New  York  State  and  to  which  will  eventually  be  sent 
all  such  prisoners  at  the  time  of  their  commitment. 

The  plan  of  utilizing  Sing  Sing  as  a  Reception 
Prison  was  first  promulgated  by  the  New  York  State 
Commission  on  Prison  Reform  in  its  preliminary 
report  published  in  1914.  The  Commission  recom- 
mended that  the  Sing  Sing  site  should  be  abandoned 
as  a  prison,  and  that  to  it  all  prisoners  sentenced  in 
New  York  State  should  be  sent  for  medical  examina- 
tion, observation,  and  for  study  of  their  character 
and  aptitude,  before  being  disposed  of  in  pursuance 
of  the  sentence  of  the  court. 

The  proposition  passed  through  a  period  of  dis- 
cussion to  its  recognition  in  the  law  of  1916  which 
provided  for  a  new  Sing  Sing  prison  and  the  con- 
version of  old  Sing  Sing  into  a  scientific  receiving 
station.  Psychiatrical  and  medical  experts  have 
already  taken  up  their  abode  at  Sing  Sing.  Even 
amid  the  dingy  surroundings  of  old  Sing  Sing  an  ex- 
cellent hospital  and  laboratory  have  been  established, 
and  the  first  reports  of  work  accomplished  can  be 
expected  shortly. 

A  preliminary  plan  for  the  psychiatrical  work  in 
a  Reception  Prison  such  as  that  suggested  for  Sing 
Sing  was  made  during  the  summer  of  1915  by  Doctor 
George  H.  Kirby  and  Doctor  L.  Pierce  Clark  of  New 
York  City.  Their  recommendations  have  formed 
the  basis  for  the  organization  of  the  Psychiatric 
clinic  now  in  operation.  Doctor  Kirby  and  Doctor 
Clark  recommend  the  investigation  of  a  year's  ad- 
missions, and,  in  addition,  a  careful  mental  study  of 
at  least  three  other  groups  among  the  prison  popula- 


THE  PRISONER  HIMSELF  31 

tion  :  (1)  refractory  and  incorrigible  cases  :  (2)  pris- 
oners convicted  for  or  suspected  of  sexual  perver- 
sions :  (3)  all  prisoners  who  develop  symptoms  of 
mental  or  nervous  disorder  or  exhibit  suicidal  im- 
pulses or.  seem  to  be  mentally  defective. 

The  psychiatric  investigation  of  the  groups  men- 
tioned, they  suggested,  should  aim  to  include  the 
following  for  each  case : 

(a)  Family  history  and  heredity. 

(6)  Early  development  and  later  life  history  of  the 
individual  in  detail.  As  complete  an  analysis  of 
the  personality  or  mental  make-up  as  is  possible  for 
the  purpose  of  establishing  correlations  between  the 
criminal  situation  and  the  various  internal  (psy- 
chogenic)  and  external  (environmental)  factors  oper- 
ative in  each  case. 

(c)  Mental  status  of  the  prisoner :     attitude  and 
conduct  in  prison  and  reaction  to  confinement :    de- 
termination of  intellectual  level  and  mental  capacity 
for  appropriate  tests  for  f  eeble-mindedness,  educa- 
tional  acquirements,    etc. :      symptoms    of    mental 
disorder  with  careful  investigation  of  unusual  emo- 

X^s^  -___—^— ••i"^* ^ ^^""^ "^ 

tional  reactions  and  peculiar-trend  of  ideas :  special 
study  of  the  criminal  situation  (subjective  analysis) 
with  efforts  to  get  at  the  deeper  motives  underlying 
various  criminal  tendencies. 

(d)  Physical  examination :  abnormalities  of  physi- 
cal make-up   (stigmata)  :  general  bodily  condition, 
signs  of  specific  and  other  diseases  :  neurological  ex- 
amination sufficient  to  detect  any  disorder  of  nervous 
system.     Wassermann  blood  test  in  each  case,  lumbar 
puncture  when  indicated  or  necessary  for  diagnosis. 


32    THE  PRISON  AND  THE  PRISONER 

These  recommendations  have  been  embodied  in 
the  plan  for  the  work  already  under  way  at  Sing  Sing, 
and  the  writer  wishes  to  emphasize  that  no  one  phase 
of  the  work  constitutes  an  independent  unit  but  is 
a  coordinate  part  of  a  comprehensive  scheme. 

Medical  Examination 

The  .plan  for  dealing  with  the  medical  phases  of  the 
problem  has  followed  the  principles  which  have  led 
to  success  in  solving  the  problems  of  our  profession. 
Not  many  years  ago  we  used  to  talk  of  "the  sick" 
and  it  was  believed  that,  in  providing  a  hospital,  the 
community  had  done  its  duty  by  those  who  belong 
to  this  class.  That  conception  has  long  since  disap- 
peared, and  we  provide  now  for  the  diagnosis  and 
treatment  of  many  kinds  of  sick  persons  in  many 
different  kinds  of  hospitals.  This  practice  we  are 
now  carrying  over  to  the  prisons,  though  its  opera- 
tion will  to  a  certain  extent  be  retarded  by  the  lack 
of  institutions  where  certain  groups  can  receive 
adequate  care. 

General  Features 

RECEPTION  OF  PRISONERS.  Each  prisoner,  in 
order  that  the  study  may  be  effectively  conducted, 
ought  to  serve  a  so-called  probationary  period  in  the 
receiving  station  of  at  least  three  months,  during 
which  time  enough  information  will  have  been  gained 
concerning  his  personality  and  aptitudes  to  justify 
the  recommendation  of  a  line  of  procedure  for  the 
remainder  of  his  imprisonment. 

MEDICAL  CLINIC.    As  soon  as  practicable  after 


THE  PRISONER  HIMSELF  33 

the  arrival  of  the  prisoner  he  will  be  presented  at 
the  medical  clinic.  Here  he  will  be  subjected  to  a 
most  critical  physical  and  mental  examination.  In 
such  an  examination  the  immediately  practical  ques- 
tion of  general  physical  condition  and  the  presence  of 
contagious  or  infectious  diseases  will  first  receive 
attention  but,  in  the  course  of  two  or  three  days  at 
the  most,  and  possibly  half  a  day  at  the  least,  a  com- 
plete examination  will  be  made  which  will  include 
careful  anthropological  measurements,  estimate  of 
nutrition,  detection  of  defects  and  anomalies  in 
growth  and  the  determinative  integrity  of  all  the 
different  organs. 

Affections  requiring  treatment  and  defects  capable 
of  remedy  will  receive  special  attention  in  this  exam- 
ination. Every  clinical  facility  will  be  used  in  this 
preliminary  examination,  the  laboratory  test  made 
in  each  case,  including  at  least  the  Wassermann  test, 
the  tuberculin  test,  and  complement  fixation  test  for 
gonorrhea.  The  records  of  this  examination  will  be 
very  carefully  made  and  preserved. 

HOSPITAL  AND  DISPENSARY  TREATMENT.  This 
examination  having  been  carefully  performed,  cer- 
tain immediate  issues  will  have  to  be  dealt  with. 
All  prisoners  physically  ill  with  acute  or  chronic  dis- 
eases will  be  sent  to  the  general  hospital  for  treat- 
ment, except  in  the  case  of  minor  conditions  which 
can  be  as  effectively  treated  in  the  surgical  and  medi- 
cal dispensaries.  The  condition  of  the  teeth  of  each 
individual  will  be  carefully  noted  and  treatment  in 
the  dental  dispensary  commenced  in  each  case  in 
which  defects  are  shown  to  exist. 


34    THE  PRISON  AND  THE  PRISONER 

In  mental  conditions,  if  the  diagnosis  can  be  made 
by  examinations  conducted  in  the  clinic  building, 
admission  to  the  psychopathic  pavilion  will  not  be 
necessary.  In  all  cases,  however,  in  which  observa- 
tion is  desirable  in  order  to  determine  the  condition, 
or  in  which  treatment  is  required  pending  transfer 
to  an  appropriate  institution,  the  prisoner  will  be 
cared  for  in  this  pavilion. 

All  cases  of  venereal  disease  will  be  treated  in  the 
venereal  pavilion.  This  applies  to  gonorrhea  as  well 
as  to  syphilis,  the  object  of  treatment  being  not 
only  the  earliest  possible  complete  cure  of  the 
prisoner  but  elimination  of  the  possibility  of  infecting 
others. 

When,  after  active  treatment,  cases  of  syphilis 
give  negative  Wassermann  reactions,  transfer  may 
be  made  to  one  of  the  different  groups  of  prisoners 
at  Sing  Sing  and  from  these  groups  to  the  other 
State  prisons  for  which  Sing  Sing  is  intended  to  con- 
stitute the  distributing  center. 

Prisoners  who  have  tuberculosis  will  be  immedi- 
ately admitted  to  the  general  hospital  and  kept  there 
continuously  until  their  transfer  to  the  hospital  for 
tubercular  prisoners  at  Dannemora  is  effected.  It 
is  suggested  that  pavilions  for  such  cases  can  be  con- 
structed on  the  roof  of  the  hospital  building. 

All  prisoners  with  incurable  diseases  or  those  re- 
quiring continued  treatment  will  be  kept  at  the 
general  hospital.  Those  in  whom  partial  infirmity 
not  requiring  continued  hospital  treatment  exists 
will  be  transferred  to  the  "special  group"  which  will 
be  mentioned  later. 


THE  PRISONER  HIMSELF  35 

The  medical  work  outlined  thus  far  will  make  it 
possible  to  pass  on  to  the  "normal  group"  or  to  the 
" special  group"  in  Sing  Sing  only  prisoners  whose 
mental  and  physical  condition  has  been  exactly  de- 
termined and  who  have  been  treated  continuously 
for  whatever  disease  they  may  possess.  The  insane, 
the  tubercular,  those  with  severe  grades  of  mental 
defect  and  those  with  chronic  or  incurable  diseases 
will  not  leave  the  hospital  department  except  through 
transfer  to  more  suitable  institutions,  the  expiration 
of  their  sentence,  parole,  or  pardon. 

Normal  Group 

The  normal  group,  doubtless,  will  be  made  up  of 
prisoners  found  to  be  free  from  physical  or  mental 
defect  or  conditions  requiring  treatment.  It  is 
understood  that  the  period  of  residence  of  such  pris- 
oners will  be  short,  all  of  them  being  transferred  to 
other  prisons  after  a  period  of  preliminary  training. 

Special  Group 

The  establishment  of  a  "special  group"  of  pris- 
oners is  believed  to  constitute  the  most  important 
constructive  feature  of  the  plan  proposed.  The 
principal  constituents  of  this  group  may  be  briefly 
mentioned,  and  then  a  few  suggestions  made  as  to 
their  management  and  disposition. 

FEEBLE-MINDED.  There  exists  no  institution  in 
the  State  at  the  present  time  for  feeble-minded 
prisoners  other  than  those  whose  mental  grade  is 
so  low  that  they  are  likely  to  be  detected  before 
conviction  and  committed  to  the  Matteawan  State 


36    THE  PRISON  AND  THE  PRISONER 

Hospital.  Until  a  suitable  institution  for  this  type 
of  cases  can  be  provided,  Matteawan  State  Hospital 
will  probably  continue  to  be  used,  although  an  un- 
suitable place  for  their  detention.  The  higher  grade 
classes  can  be  cared  for  in  the  "special  group"  which 
it  is  proposed  to  establish  until  more  suitable  provi- 
sions are  made  in  institutions  for  defective  delin- 
quents. In  this  group  they  can  receive  industrial 
training  devised  to  fit  their  individual  needs,  such 
carefully  supervised  education  as  will  be  of  the  most 
practical  benefit  and  special  management  with  refer- 
ence to  conduct  and  responsibility.  Such  groups 
have  been  successfully  established  in  reformatories. 
In  other  words,  the  management  of  mentally  defec- 
tive prisoners  in  the  "special  groups"  will  approxi- 
mate that  existing  in  an  institution  for  high-grade 
cases  of  feeble-mindedness. 

SPECIAL  MENTAL  CASES.  All  individuals  in  whom 
insanity  (mental  diseases  or  psychoses)  exists  will 
be  transferred  as  soon  as  practicable  to  the  Mattea- 
wan State  Hospital.  Without  mental  examination 
and  under  a  system  which  brought  mental  cases  to 
the  attention  of  the  physician  only  when  they  at 
first  came  to  the  notice  of  lay  employees,  about  one 
in  forty-five  of  the  average  daily  population  of  Sing 
Sing  Prison  has  been  committed  to  the  Matteawan 
State  Hospital  each  year  during  the  last  three  years. 
The  ratio  of  commitments  to  the  adult  male  popula- 
tion of  the  entire  State  is  only  one  in  320.  It  is  ap- 
parent, therefore,  that  we  will  have  to  deal  with  a 
very  heavy  incidence  of  mental  disease  among  those 
received  at  Sing  Sing.  It  is  impossible  to  predict 


THE  PRISONER  HIMSELF  37 

the  number  of  such  cases  which  will  be  found  after  a 
careful  psychiatric  examination  is  made  of  all  prison- 
ers, but  the  experience  of  those  few  prisons  in  which 
such  examinations  have  been  conducted  makes  it 
certain  that  it  will  be  several  times  greater  than  the 
proportion  given.  It  is  an  obvious  duty  of  the 
State  to  provide  increased  accommodations  for  such 
patients  in  the  hospitals  for  the  criminal  insane. 

The  mental  cases  to  be  provided  for  in  the  "special 
group"  will  not,  therefore,  be  those  of  frank  mental 
disease.  There  is,  in  addition,  however,  a  consider- 
able proportion  of  prisoners  in  whom  various  psycho- 
pathic types  of  personality  exist.  It  is  felt  that 
prolonged  observation  of  these  prisoners  and  special 
methods  of  management  and  care  will  not  only  bene- 
fit many  of  them  individually  but  will  remove  from 
the  prison  population  a  small  but  important  group 
in  whom  reformative  measures  applicable  to  the 
general  prison  population  are  likely  to  fail. 

SEXUAL  PSYCHOPATHICS.  In  this  group  of  prison- 
ers are  included  those  with  various  types  of  sexual 
inversions  or  perversions.  Not  a  few  of  these  prison- 
ers will  be  found  capable  of  much  improvement  by 
treatment,  although  most  of  them  are  not  proper 
subjects  for  treatment  in  an  institution  for  the  insane 
or  one  for  the  mentally  defective.  Their  collection  in 
the  "special  group"  where  special  oversight  is  to  be  at 
all  times  possible  will  help  solve  one  of  the  most  diffi- 
cult problems  which  confront  prison  administrators. 

INFIRM  AND  CRIPPLED.  A  small  proportion  of  the 
prisoners  admitted  to  the  Reception  Prison  will  be 
found  to  be  unimprovable  by  hospital  treatment  and 


38    THE  PRISON  AND  THE  PRISONER 

incapable  of  any  except  slight  physical  labor.  In 
the  "special  group"  such  cases  can  be  provided  with 
a  very  suitable  environment,  and  their  industrial 
training  can  be  modified  with  special  reference  to 
their  needs  and  abilities. 

In  addition  to  the  members  of  the  "special  group" 
which  have  been  indicated,  any  prisoner  presenting 
a  problem  which,  either  for  his  advantage  or  for  the 
advantage  of  the  prison,  requires  highly  individual- 
ized treatment  should  be  added  to  this  "special 
group."  In  this  way  those  presenting  striking 
anomalies  of  conduct,  unusual  personalities,  etc!, 
will  receive  the  special  attention  which  they  require. 

The  Mental  and  Sociological  Study 

The  mental  and  sociological  study  will  follow  the 
general  lines  suggested  by  Doctor  Kirby  and  Doctor 
Clark.  The  accurate  diagnosis  will  come,  however, 
as  the  result  of  the  man's  participation,  under  ob- 
servation, in  the  community  life  of  the  institution 
and  will  grow  out  of  it,  being  modified  by  it,  rather 
than  being  arbitrarily  made  by  an  external  labora- 
tory. Psychological,  mechanical,  and  other  tests 
will  be  used,  the  cooperation  of  the  field  worker  will 
be  enlisted,  but  the  receiving  station  itself  will  con- 
stitute the  laboratory. 

It  is  no  easy  task  to  obtain  a  personal,  industrial, 
and  sociological  history  of  an  adult  delinquent  who 
may  have  served  several  sentences  under  different 
names  and  have  become  expert  in  avoiding  the  sur- 
render of  such  information,  even  when  confronted 
by  expert  prosecutors  and  third  degree  examiners. 


THE  PRISONER  HIMSELF  39 

The  success  or  failure  of  the  receiving  station  will 
be  determined  by  the  attitude  of  the  prisoners. 
Even  at  Sing  Sing  where  the  Mutual  Welfare  System 
is  developing  in  the  prisoners  a  determination  to  help 
in  every  way,  the  old  habit  of  suppression  of  facts  still 
partially  persists.  Accurate  information  can  only 
be  called  out  when  it  is  apparent  that  the  informa- 
tion will  not  be  used  against  the  man  in  his  future 
career,  and  where  there  will  be  a  direct  profit  to  him 
from  revealing  the  facts. 

Reliable  information  can  only  be  gained  through 
the  establishment  of  the  best  kind  of  personal  rela- 
tionships between  the  prisoners  and  the  investigators 
and  through  the  gradual  demonstration  of  the  fact 
that  the  release  of  information  will  better  a  man's 
opportunity  in  the  institution  and  secure  adequate 
recognition  before  the  Parole  Board  or  Indeterminate 
Sentence  Board. 

Buildings  Required 

The  buildings  required  to  carry  out  the  plan  herein 
proposed  include  a  medical  clinic  building,  general 
hospital,  psychopathic  pavilion,  venereal  pavilion 
and  isolation  pavilion.  The  attached  estimate  gives 
the  approximate  cost  of  such  buildings. 

MEDICAL  CLINIC  BUILDING.  This  building  should 
provide  the  following  examining  rooms  :  laboratory ; 
physical  examination,  special ;  physical  examination, 
eye,  ear,  nose,  and  throat;  physical  examination, 
general ;  office  of  chief  physician ;  office  of  medical 
clerk ;  psychopathic  examination  room ;  record  room 
and  library ;  surgical  dispensary ;  drug  room ;  medical 


40    THE  PRISON  AND  THE  PRISONER 

dispensary ;  dental  dispensary ;  psychopathic  labora- 
tory ;  toilet  rooms ;  and  storage  space  in  attics.  The 
records  of  the  medical  department  will  be  of  great  and 
increasing  value,  and  so  arrangements  will  be  made 
for  their  storage  in  fireproof  filing  cabinets.  The 
general  offices  of  the  physician  and  his  associates  will 
be  located  in  this  building,  and  it  will  be  the  center 
of  the  hygienic,  sanitary,  and  medical  activities  of 
the  prison.  The  library  will  form  a  place  for  staff 
conferences  and  for  research,  as  well  as  for  the  safe 
keeping  of  records.  The  morgue  will  be  in  the  base- 
ment of  the  medical  clinic  building  directly  connect- 
ing with  the  laboratory.  It  is  believed  that  a  plain 
but  substantial  building  providing  all  the  facilities 
needed  can  be  constructed  for  the  amount  estimated. 

GENERAL  HOSPITAL.  The  general  hospital  will 
provide  for  fifty  patients,  one  side  being  devoted  to 
surgical  and  the  other  to  medical  cases.  In  the 
center  portion  between  the  two  wings  will  be  situated 
the  operating,  dressing,  and  sterilizing  rooms,  the 
X-ray  and  photographic  room,  and  quarters  for  the 
resident  physician  and  nurses.  A  two-story  brick 
building  of  plain  but  substantial  construction  (fol- 
lowing the  excellent  type  adopted  by  the  United 
States  Army)  could  be  constructed  for  the  amount 
estimated. 

PSYCHOPATHIC  PAVILION.  The  Psychopathic  Pa- 
vilion will  provide  for  fifteen  patients,  ten  of  them 
in  individual  rooms  and  five  in  a  small  ward.  A 
day  room  and  a  room  provided  with  complete  hydro- 
therapeutic  apparatus  will  be  included,  together 
with  the  necessary  service  rooms. 


THE  PRISONER  HIMSELF 


41 


Buildings  Required  by  the  Medical  Department 

(HYGIENE  AND  SANITATION,  MEDICAL  OBSERVATION,  HOSPITAL  AND 
DISPENSARY  TREATMENT) 


DESCRIPTION 


CAPA- 
CITY 


APPROXIMATE  COST 


GENERAL  HOSPITAL 

For  Medical  and  Surgical  cases  and 
tuberculosis  pending  transfer  to  hos- 
pital for  insane 

PSYCHOPATHIC  PAVILION 

For  special  mental  observation  and 
treatment  pending  transfer 

ISOLATION  PAVILION       

For  contagious  diseases  other  than 
tuberculosis  and  venereal 

VENEREAL  PAVILION 

For  active  cases  of  venereal  disease 

CLINIC  BUILDINGS 

Offices  and  record  rooms  of  medical 
department 
EXAMINATION  ROOMS 
General  physical 
Eye,  ear,  nose,  and  throat 
Psychopathic 
DISPENSARIES 

General  medical 
Surgical 
Venereal 
Dental 
LABORATORIES 

EQUIPMENT        

Totals 


50 


15 


30 


50,000 

10,000 
3,500 

15,000 
25,000 


6,500 


100 


$110,000 


Kitchen  service  (except  diet  kitchen)  for  General  Hospital  and 
Psychopathic  Pavilion  to  be  from  main  service  department  of  prison. 
Independent  kitchen  service  for  Venereal  Pavilion  and  Isolation  Pavilion. 

VENEREAL  PAVILION.  The  venereal  pavilion,  to 
accommodate  thirty  patients,  will  consist  of  two 
wards  accommodating  twelve  patients  each,  six  isola- 


42    THE  PRISON  AND  THE  PRISONER 

tion  rooms,  and  the  necessary  service  rooms.  A  dress- 
ing room  and  small  ward  laboratory  will  also  be 
provided.  The  kitchen  and  dining-room  service  of 
this  building  will  be  independent. 

ISOLATION  PAVILION.  The  isolation  pavilion  will 
consist  of  five  separate  rooms,  each  with  a  water 
section,  so  that  cases  of  different  contagious  diseases 
can  be  isolated  at  the  same  time.  This  building  will 
probably  rarely  be  occupied,  but  it  is  an  indispen- 
sable adjunct  of  an  institution  of  this  size,  no  matter 
what  its  purposes  may  be. 

Personnel 

Thus  far  the  plan  has  dealt  only  with  general  pro- 
cedure and  physical  facilities.  All  these  might  be 
provided,  and  the  great  problems  which  it  is  proposed 
to  attack  remain  unsolved  unless  an  adequate  per- 
sonnel is  also  supplied. 

PHYSICIAN.  Under  this  title,  by  which  the  chief 
medical  officer  of  a  prison  is  officially  known,  there 
will  be  appointed  to  the  Reception  Prison  a  man 
qualified  by  scientific  training,  experience,  character, 
breadth  of  vision,  and  personal  qualities  to  direct 
and  coordinate  all  the  activities  which  have  been 
suggested.  He  will  be  in  effect,  if  not  in  official 
terms,  the  chief  sanitary  officer  of  the  prison  and  in 
all  matters  will  report  directly  to  the  warden.  All 
other  persons,  both  officers  and  employees,  in  the 
medical  department  should  report  directly  to  him. 

ASSISTANT  PHYSICIANS.  One  assistant  physician 
will  be  assigned  constantly  to  the  general  hospital, 
one  to  the  medical  clinic  building,  and  one  as  a  gen- 


THE  PRISONER  HIMSELF  4S 

eral  assistant,  devoting  himself  chiefly  to  the  care  of 
patients  in  the  venereal  pavilion.  At  least  two  of 
the  assistant  physicians  will  reside  in  the  prison. 

ALIENISTS.  An  alienist  and  his  assistant  will, 
under  the  chief  medical  officer,  have  charge  of  the 
psychopathic  pavilion  and  the  mental  examinations 
at  the  medical  clinic.  They  will  also,  in  cooperation 
with  other  prison  officials,  supervise  the  care  and 
training  of  the  mentally  defective  and  other  mental 
cases  in  the  "special  group."  The  assistant  alienist 
will  reside  in  the  prison. 

DENTIST.  There  will  be  a  nonresident  dentist 
who  will  be  required  to  devote  his  whole  time  to  the 
work  of  the  dental  dispensary. 

MEDICAL  CLERK.  The  medical  clerk  will  have 
had  practical  experience  in  the  care  of  medical  records 
in  a  large  general  hospital.  He  will  have,  under  the 
chief  medical  officer,  full  responsibility  for  the  medical 
records  of  the  prison. 

LABORATORY  ASSISTANT.  As  it  is  hoped  that  it 
will  not  be  necessary  to  make  the  extensive  provision 
necessary  for  laboratory  examinations  at  Sing  Sing, 
the  duties  of  the  laboratory  assistant  will  deal  with 
the  routine  examination  of  blood,  sputum,  and  urine, 
and  the  preparation  of  specimens  to  be  submitted  for 
examination  elsewhere.  It  is  believed  that  the  State 
Health  Department  and  one  of  the  medical  schools 
in  New  York  City  will  cooperate  by  providing  the 
extensive  laboratory  which  will  have  to  form  a  part 
of  the  examination  and  treatment  at  Sing  Sing. 

NURSES.  There  will  be  a  supervisor  of  nurses. 
All  the  nurses  employed  in  the  psychopathic  pavilion, 


44    THE  PRISON  AND  THE  PRISONER 

and  the  head  nurses  in  the  general  hospital  and  in  the 
venereal  pavilion  will  be  paid  employees  of  the  State. 

SOCIAL  WORKERS.  One  or  two  field  workers  (non- 
medical)  will  be  required  to  assist  in  getting  family 
and  personal  histories  of  the  cases. 

STENOGRAPHERS.  A  stenographer  will  be  em- 
ployed for  the  chief  medical  officer  and  one  for  the 
psychopathic  pavilion. 

Transfer  of  Prisoners 

TRANSFER  WITHIN  THE  RECEPTION  PRISON.  It  is 
very  essential  to  bear  in  mind  that  the  establishment 
of  the  "special  group"  which  has  been  described  does 
not  involve  a  rigid  or  permanent  division.  There 
will  be  free  transfer  from  the  "special  group"  to  the 
"normal  group"  when  there  is  a  fortunate  outcome 
to  efforts  at  specialized  training ;  from  the  "normal" 
to  the  "special  group"  when  the  test  of  prison  social 
life  discloses  abnormal  conditions  not  previously  as- 
certained, and  to  and  from  the  hospital  as  exigencies 
require.  At  all  times  the  hospital  and  medical  clinic 
building  will  serve  the  medical  needs  of  the  prison 
population. 

TRANSFER  TO  OTHER  PRISONS.  One  of  the  chief 
objects  of  the  plan  herein  proposed  will  be  to  supply 
to  the  other  prisons  a  stream  of  healthy,  sane,  able- 
bodied  prisoners  who  have  received  the  benefits  of 
preliminary  training,  have  had  physical  defects  cor- 
rected, and  have  already  entered  into  the  spirit  of 
self-government  upon  which  the  success  of  their 
future  lives,  both  in  and  out  of  prison,  will  chiefly 
depend. 


THE  PRISONER  HIMSELF  45 

In  consequence  of  the  retention  at  the  Reception 
Prison  of  the  sick,  the  defective,  and  those  requir- 
ing special  care,  the  problems  of  other  prisons  will 
be  immensely  simplified.  Hospital  accommoda- 
tions will  be  restricted  to  those  required  for  emer- 
gency cases,  and  each  prisoner  will  have  definite  in- 
dustrial capacities.  Thus  the  greater  expense  of 
maintenance  in  the  Reception  Prison  will  be  offset  by 
the  saving  in  other  prisons  due  to  the  highly  selected 
type  of  prisoners  with  which  they  will  be  supplied. 

When  a  prisoner  becomes  seriously  or  chronically 
ill  in  another  prison,  or  is  in  need  of  reexamination 
or  special  observation  to  determine  his  mental  or 
physical  condition,  he  will  be  returned  to  the  Recep- 
tion Prison  at  which  all  scientific  facilities  will  be 
concentrated.  At  the  time  of  discharge,  each 
prisoner  will  be  returned  to  Sing  Sing  where  he  will 
be  very  carefully  reexamined.  In  this  way  it  will  be 
possible  to  determine  what  prison  life  under  favor- 
able conditions  actually  does  for  the  prisoner.  Its 
effects  upon  him  mentally  and  physically,  as  well  as 
morally,  can  be  ascertained,  while  if  such  a  prisoner 
is  readmitted  to  Sing  Sing  it  will  be  possible  to  learn 
also  what  the  effects  of  community  life  have  been. 

The  Reception  Prison,  the  functions  of  which  have 
been  briefly  reviewed,  is  the  latest  development  in 
the  field  of  scientific  penology,  and  so  far  as  the  ap- 
plication of  medical  and  psychiatrical  information 
can  help,  should  both  test  the  real  utility  of  the  prison 
system  and  devise  the  means  whereby  ineffectiveness 
can  be  overcome  and  reconstructive  measures  be 
made  available  for  each  individual  prisoner. 


CHAPTER  III 
THE  PRISONER  — WARD  OR  SLAVE? 

BY  KABL  W.  KKCHWET 
Of  the  New  York  Bar 


CHAPTER  III 
THE  PRISONER  — WARD  OR  SLAVE? 

"THIS  nation  cannot  continue  half  slave  and  half 
free"  was  the  doctrine  of  Lincoln  and  written  through 
the  bloodshed  of  the  Civil  War  into  our  Consti- 
tution. Yet  one  segment  of  our  population  was 
seemingly  not  included  in  the  sweeping  declaration ; 
the  segment  that  behind  prison  walls  is  paying  the 
penalty  for  the  perpetration  of  crime. 

The  Thirteenth  Amendment  to  the  Constitution  ~ 
of  the  United  States  holds  "that  neither  slavery  nor 
involuntary  servitude,  except  as  a  punishment 
for  crime,  whereof  the  party  shall  have  been  duly 
convicted,  shall  exist  within  the  United  States  or 
any  place  subject  to  their  jurisdiction."  By  in- 
ference at  least  this  amendment  can  be  read  to  sanc- 
tion slavery,  as  well  as  involuntary  servitude,  as 
punishment  for  crime.^ 

Slavery  or  involuntary  servitude  as  punishment 
for  crime  is  not  limited  to  this  country  nor  to  this 
day  and  generation.  It  is  a  survival  from  next-to- 
primitive  days.  The  earliest  form  of  punishment 
was  death  or  expulsion  from  the  family  or  tribe,  but 
as  soon  as  the  tribe  gathered  unto  itself  goods  and 
chattels,  the  evildoers,  like  the  prisoners  of  war, 
were  held  as  captives  to  perform  the  menial  duties. 

49 


50    THE  PRISON  AND  THE  PRISONER 

This  continued  through  Roman  days  in  the  servi 
poena  who  labored  in  building  the  great  Roman 
highways  and  manned  the  galleys,  to  the  feudal  days 
when  resort  to  the  hangman  was  found  less  costly. 

The  beginning  of  the  eighteenth  century  wit- 
nessed revulsion  from  the  hangman's  methods  and 
also  a  demand  for  laborers  for  the  colonies ;  deporta- 
tion into  slavery  resulted  as  substitute  for  the  hang- 
man. In  brief,  as  Doctor  Whitin  has  analyzed 
the  situation,  "The  economic  value  of  the  labor  of 
the  wayward  individual  has  directly  affected  the 
method  of  his  punishment."  1 

The  upheaval  of  the  French  Revolution  has  left 
its  mark  on  the  treatment  of  the  French  convicts. 
Since  the  fall  of  the  Bastile,  wage  for  their  labors 
has  been  granted  not  as  a  privilege  but  as  a  right. 
Thus  was  one  element  of  slavery  swept  from  the 
lot  of  the  French  convict  by  that  great  holocaust ! 2 

In  this  country,  as  in  England  and  Germany,  wage 
has  never  been  deemed  the  right  of  the  convict. 
It  has  been  granted  at  times  for  overtime  work  or 
to  stimulate  activity  and  lead  to  increase  in  the  out- 
put, but  never  has  the  right  to  wage  been  established. 
It  has  been  urged  before  legislatures,  discussed  by 
reform  gatherings,  and  preached  from  pulpits. 
To-day  we  have  labor  without  compensation  in 
practically  every  prison  in  this  land. 

Is  this  tolerated  because  the  Constitution  may 
be  construed  to  permit  slavery  as  punishment  for 
crime?  Does  the  lack  of  wage  constitute  a  slave 

1  "Penal  Servitude",  E.  Stagg  Whitin,  C.  I. 

2  "Le  Travail  dans  les  Prisons",  Roger  Roux,  p.  31. 


THE  PRISONER  — WARD  OR  SLAVE?    51 

status,  or,  taken  in  conjunction  with  other  elements 
in  the  convict's  lot,  does  it  create  a  condition  of 
slavery  ?  Is  the  status  of  the  convict  slavery,  servi- 
tude analogous  to  slavery,  or  totally  different  there- 
from ? 

The  exact  status  of  the  prisoner  in  this  respect 
has  never  been  fully  defined  by  the  courts,  though 
an  interesting  legal  problem  is  involved  and  the 
decision  might  have  far-reaching  effect.  Should  it 
be  held  that  slavery  is  actually  imposed  as  punish- 
ment for  crime,  would  our  modern  conscience  tolerate 
its  continuance  ?  Would  not  a  readjustment  of  our 
whole  prison  system  follow  such  a  decision  ? 

The  National  Committee  on  Prisons  and  Prison 
Labor  decided  to  bring  the  matter  before  the 
courts,  and  in  1913  instituted  a  test  case  in  Rhode 
Island,  the  constitution  of  which  prohibits  slavery 
without  mention  of  involuntary  servitude  and  with- 
out the  exception  as  to  punishment  for  crime  found 
in  the  federal  and  most  of  the  State  constitutions. 

The  Rhode  Island  State  Board  of  Control  has  full 
power  and  authority  over  the  labor  of  prisoners 
and  other  inmates  of  State  institutions  and  is  em- 
powered "to  sell  the  products  of  such  institutions 
and  make  such  contracts  respecting  the  labor  of 
the  prisoners  and  inmates  as  it  shall  deem  proper." 
The  statute  which  authorizes  the  contracting  of 
the  labor  of  the  prisoners  provides  further  that  "all 
orders,  agreements  and  contracts  made  by  said 
board  in  respect  to  such  labor  shall  be  binding  upon 
the  prisoners  and  inmates."  l 

1  Rhode  Island  Public  Laws,  1912,  c.  825,  §  21. 


52    THE  PRISON  AND  THE  PRISONER 

A  contract  was  entered  into  December  24,  1912, 
between  the  Rhode  Island  Board  of  Control  and  the 
Crescent  Garment  Company,  under  which  the  lat- 
ter hired  the  labor  of  not  less  than  250  prisoners, 
furnishing  the  necessary  machinery,  material  and 
supervision  to  keep  all  these  convicts  employed, 
and  paying  the  State  fifty  cents  for  every  dozen 
shirts  manufactured  under  the  agreement.  The 
Board  of  Control  agreed  to  furnish  all  the  factory 
room,  power,  heat,  and  light  necessary  for  the  proper 
conduct  and  operation  of  the  manufacture  and  all 
the  transportation  of  materials,  supplies,  and  manu- 
factured articles  from  and  to  the  railroad  station. 

The  status  of  the  prisoner  forced  to  work  under 
the  terms  of  this  contract  was  considered  by  the 
National  Committee  on  Prisons  and  Prison  Labor 
to  possess  all  the  essential  attributes  of  slavery, 
and  the  statute  authorizing  the  contract  to  be  in 
contravention  to  the  provision  of  the  State  Consti- 
tution prohibiting  slavery. 

The  Committee  therefore  backed  an  ex-prisoner 
who  brought  suit  against  the  former  and  the  present 
contractors  for  wage  for  his  labor  during  the  time 
he  had  worked  under  their  contracts.1 

The  case  was  heard  before  the  Supreme  Court 
of  Rhode  Island  in  November,  1914.  George  Gor- 
don Battle,  the  counsel  for  the  plaintiff,  argued  that 
the  Rhode  Island  constitution  is  self-executing  and 
applies  equally  to  negroes  and  white  persons  and 
established  the  fact  that  the  framers  of  the  con- 

1  State  of  Rhode  Island,  Anderson  and  Crescent  Garment  Company, 
Supreme  Court,  C.Q.  No.  455. 


THE  PRISONER  — WARD  OR  SLAVE?    53 

stitution  were  too  familiar  with  the  discourses  on 
slavery,1  to  have  intended  that  the  word  "slavery" 
should  be  restricted  to  "African  Slavery":  or  in 
other  words  that  it  is  inconceivable  that  the  people 
of  Rhode  Island  when  they  enacted  the  Constitu- 
tion, would  be  willing  to  do  less  than  was  accom- 
plished by  the  Thirteenth  Amendment  or  permit 
any  form  of  human  bondage  to  flourish  within  the 
borders  of  the  State.  Furthermore,  the  Rhode 
Island  fathers  must  have  known  that  Illinois,  In- 
diana, Michigan  and  Ohio  had  enacted  anti-slavery 
clauses  at  a  much  earlier  date,  yet  all  modified  the 
prohibition  by  the  exception  as  to  punishment  for 
crime.  The  people  of  Rhode  Island  too  could  have 
included  the  exception,  but  their  language  is  clear  and 
final.  They  prohibited  slavery  —  slavery  in  every 
form,  under  any  guise  whatsoever. 

The  definition  of  slavery,  advanced  by  Mr.  Battle 
as  the  most  careful  and  accurate  to  be  found  in  the 
books,  was  that  laid  down  in  Plessy  v.  Ferguson : 2 
"Slavery  implies  involuntary  servitude  —  a  state 
of  bondage ;  the  ownership  of  mankind  as  a  chattel, 
or  at  least  the  control  of  the  labor  and  services  of 
one  man  for  the  benefit  of  another,  and  the  absence 
of  a  legal  right  to  the  disposal  of  his  own  person, 
property  and  services." 

According  to  this  definition  the  elements  of  slav- 
ery are:  (1)  The  control  of  the  labor  and  services 
of  a  person,  (2)  for  the  benefit  of  another  and  (3) 
the  absence  of  a  legal  right  in  the  former  to  dispose 
of  his  own  person,  property  and  services. 

1  Kent's  Commentaries  appeared  in  1827  and  was  undoubtedly  familiar 
to  all  the  lawyers  who  took  part  in  the  framing  of  that  agreement.     In 
his  thirty-second  lecture  (p.  247,  et  seq.)  Chancellor  Kent  gives  a  full 
discourse  on  slavery,  Greek,  Roman,  feudal,  etc. 

2  Plessy  v.  Ferguson,  163  U.  S.  537,  p.  542. 


54    THE  PRISON  AND  THE  PRISONER 

Under  the  contract,  it  was  pointed  out,  the  ser- 
vices of  the  plaintiff  were  controlled  directly  by  the 
contractor ;  the  benefit  or  profit  from  these  services 
accrued  to  the  contractor,  subject  to  the  fixed  pay- 
ments to  the  state,  the  plaintiff  being  entitled  to 
no  benefit  from  these  services ;  and,  moreover,  the 
plaintiff  was  without  legal  right,  under  the  contract 
to  dispose  of  his  own  person,  property  or  services, 
either  by  working  for  the  state,  some  other  contrac- 
tor, or  himself,  or  by  not  working  at  all.  As  to  his 
person  and  services  this  is  clear.  His  right  to  the 
disposal  of  his  property  was  equally  non-existent; 
a  convict  may  not  make  a  will  or  any  conveyance 
of  his  property  or  any  part  thereof  during  his  im- 
prisonment.1 

The  lack  of  a  right  to  compensation  was  an 
essential  characteristic  of  slavery  as  it  existed  before 
the  Civil  War.  The  prisoner,  it  was  shown,  might 
receive  compensation  at  the  will  of  the  Board  of 
Control ;  so  might  the  slave  in  the  South  be  per- 
mitted by  his  master  to  receive  wages  as  his  own 
property.2  Slaves  in  Louisiana  had  a  legal  right 
to  wages  for  work  done  on  Sunday,  even  against 
their  masters,  while  an  early  South  Carolina  case 
upheld  the  right  of  a  slave  as  against  her  master, 
to  retain  wages  which  he  had  permitted  her  to  ac- 
quire and  keep  as  her  own. 

In  spite  of  this  apparent  exception,  however, 
the  absence  of  a  legal  right  to  demand  compensation 
for  work  involuntarily  done  may  be  described  as 
an  infallible  attribute  of  slavery. 

iKenyon  v.  Saunders,  18  R.  I.  590,  592;  Public  Statutes  of  R.  I., 
c.  248,  §  52. 

2  Guardian  of  Sally  v.  Beaty  (S.  C.),  1  Bay  260 ;  Rice  v.  Cade,  10  La. 
288,  294. 


THE  PRISONER  — WARD  OR  SLAVE?    55 

The  fact  that  the  plaintiff's  term  of  confinement 
and  compulsory  service  terminated  at  a  fixed  date 
was  shown  not  inconsistent  with  the  status  of  slav- 
ery. In  at  least  one  state  the  negro  was  recognized 
as  a  slave  even  though  he  had  a  definite  right  to 
freedom  at  some  future  date.1 

The  power  to  contract  was  not  entirely  withheld 
from  the  negro  slave.  In  Louisiana  and  Tennessee, 
contracts  between  slaves  and  their  masters  whereby 
the  master  agreed  to  free  the  slave  on  a  future  date, 
or  on  the  payment  of  a  certain  sum,  were  valid  and 
enforceable.2  Similarly,  in  certain  jurisdictions,  ne- 
gro slaves  were  capable  of  entering  into  valid  con- 
tracts of  marriage.  In  Tennessee  this  was  permitted 
at  common  law,  if  done  with  the  master's  consent, 
and  also  by  early  statutes  in  New  York  and  Massa- 
chusetts.3 

The  status  of  the  convict  was  not  essentially 
different  from  that  of  a  slave  even  in  the  mat- 
ter of  protection  from  brutality.  The  protection  of 
the  convict  is  only  secured  through  the  constitu- 
tional prohibition  against  cruel  punishment,  and  by 
a  statute  forbidding  whipping  or  other  corporal 
punishment  except  under  the  direction  of  two  mem- 
bers of  the  State  Board.4 

The  Southern  slave  owner  did  not  have  absolute 
power  over  the  person  of  his  slave :  for  mere  dis- 
obedience he  was  entitled  to  administer  only  such 
punishment  as  was  appropriate  to  the  case  without 

1  Jameson  v.  McCoy  (Term.),  5  Heisk  108. 

2  Gaudet  v.  Gourdain,  3  La.  Ann.  136. 

3  Andrews  v.  Page  (Tenn.),  3  Heisk.  635,  668.     Oliver  v.  Sale  (Mass.), 
Quincy  29  Note.    Jackson  v.  Lervey  (N.  Y.),  5  Cow.  397. 

4  General  Laws,  1909,  p.  1337,  §  23. 


56    THE  PRISON  AND  THE  PRISONER 

endangering  the  life  or  limb  of  his  slave.  The  slave 
might  lawfully  resist  his  master  in  defense  of  life 
or  limb ;  and  if  the  master  killed  him  in  the  ensuing 
conflict,  it  was  murder.1  There  is  nothing  in  the 
statutes  to  suggest  that  the  power  of  the  state  over 
the  person  of  its  convicts  is  restricted  to  any  greater 
degree  than  this. 

The  argument  for  the  plaintiff  continued  as 
follows: 

The  labor  of  the  Rhode  Island  convicts  had  never 
been  leased  at  the  time  the  constitutional  provision 
was  enacted.  The  first  evidence  of  any  system  of 
convict  labor  in  the  state  appears  in  the  year  1834 
when  a  popular  referendum  was  had  upon  the  ques- 
tion whether  a  state  prison  should  be  built.  The 
election  resulted  in  favor  of  the  scheme;  commis- 
sioners were  appointed  to  buy  land  and  build  a 
prison  under  a  plan  of  "separate  confinement  at 
labor,  with  instructors."  The  prison  was  completed 
in  1838  and  on  November  16th  four  convicts  were 
committed  to  its  cells.  While  it  is  stated  that  they 
could  "arrange  and  contract  for  the  labor  of  the 
prisoners,"  contract  for  the  disposal  of  the  product 
of  their  labor  is  undoubtedly  meant;  at  all  events 
the  present  contract  system  was  not  adopted  nor 
even  considered  for  many  years  thereafter.2 

Slowly  the  labor  system  developed.  First,  the 
solitary  labor,  owing  to  its  evil  effect  on  the  sanity 
of  the  prisoners,  gave  way  to  shop  labor;  then  a 
wage  of  33J  cents  for  each  day  a  prisoner  labored 
was  allowed  towards  the  payment  of  his  fine ;  finally 
in  1852  the  contract  system  was  introduced  and  in 
1857  we  find  the  statutory  provision  that  convicts 

1  Oliver  v.  State,  39  Miss.  526,  539;  Dave  c.  State,  22  Ala.  23,  34. 

2  Report,  State  Prison  Inspectors,  1876,  pp.  16-27. 


THE  PRISONER  —  WARD  OR  SLAVE?    57 

"shall  be  let  or  kept  at  labor  ...  for  the  benefit 
of  the  state,  in  such  manner,  under  such  contract, 
and  subject  to  such  rules,  regulations,  and  discipline 
as  the  inspectors  of  the  state  prison  may  make  or 
appoint."  l  An  important  innovation  was  intro- 
duced in  1874  when  the  Board  of  Inspectors  was 
authorized,  in  its  discretion,  to  pay  to  convicts 
upon  their  discharge  or  during  their  imprisonment 
to  their  dependents  a  sum  not  exceeding  one  tenth 
of  the  convict's  actual  earnings  during  confinement.2 

Commenting  upon  this  experiment  in  their  next 
report  the  Inspectors  state : 

"  There  have  as  yet  been  but  two  applications  for 
relief  under  the  law  authorizing  the  inspector  to 
pay  a  certain  portion  of  the  earnings  of  a  prisoner 
to  his  needy  family.  But  the  inspectors  are  fully 
convinced  of  the  wisdom  and  benefit  of  such  a  law, 
and  regard  it  as  a  wholesome  element  in  the  dis- 
cipline of  the  Institution.  Hope  is  the  chief  factor 
in  the  moral  elevation  of  mankind,  and  so  far  as 
it  can  be  applied  in  this  and  kindred  ways,  to  the 
reformation  of  the  criminal,  by  inducing  good  be- 
havior and  diligent  habits  of  work,  it  will  be  found 
successful  in  the  production  of  encouraging  results."  3 

A  further  provision  for  wage  is  found  in  the  legis- 
lation of  1877  which  created  the  State  Board  of 
Charities  and  Corrections  to  have  control  over  the 
conduct  of  the  prison  and  the  discipline  and  employ- 
ment of  the  prisoners.  This  new  Board  was  in- 
structed to  provide  that  the  convict  on  discharge 
should  be  decently  clothed  and  that  in  no  case  should 
he  receive  a  sum  less  than  five  dollars.4 

1 R.  S.,  1857,  c.  226,  §  15. 

2  Laws  of  1874,  c.  350.     See  Report  of  Board  of  Inspectors,  1872,  p.  10. 

3  Report  of  Board  of  Inspectors,  1872,  p.  10. 
«R.S.  1882,  c.  254,  §39. 


58    THE  PRISON  AND  THE  PRISONER 

A  careful  review  of  the  prison  legislation  from 
the  date  of  the  constitution  shows  that  while  wage 
for  convicts  had  not  been  thought  of  at  that  time, 
contract  labor  was  equally  foreign  to  the  thought 
of  that  day,  and  was  not  introduced  in  the  state 
until  at  least  ten  years  later.  Indeed,  in  1842, 
the  problem  was  not  a  considerable  one,  as  in  that 
year,  "the  number  of  convicts  had  increased  to 
thirty-seven. " x  There  is  no  evidence  that  had  the 
framers  of  the  Constitution  considered  the  contract 
system  they  would  have  desired  to  except  it  from 
the  anti-slavery  provision,  and  the  provision  must 
be  applied  to  the  situation  which  has  arisen  since 
its  adoption  in  the  light  of  its  general  meaning  and 
purpose  to  prohibit  utterly  the  existence  of  slavery 
in  any  form. 

The  well-established  facts  regarding  the  contract 
system  were  advanced  to  show  the  reasonableness 
of  such  a  proposition  and  that  there  were  no  grounds 
for  claiming  that  a  reasonable  construction  of  the 
constitutional  provision  would  forbid  the  denial  to 
the  State  of  the  right  to  lease  its  convict  labor  to 
private  contractors.  The  inevitable  tendency  of 
the  contract  system  is  to  employ  the  convicts  at 
tasks  injurious  to  their  health  and  to  drive  them 
far  beyond  their  strength  in  an  effort  to  extract 
the  largest  amount  of  profit  for  the  contractor  and 
the  state.  Its  detrimental  effect  upon  the  free 
workingman  employed  by  manufacturers  striving  to 
compete  with  the  prison  contractor  and  at  the  same 
time  attempting  to  pay  their  employees  a  living 
wage,  is  equally  well  known.  In  short,  the  worst 
features  of  the  sweat-shop  system,  both  in  and  out 
of  prison,  are  exhibited  in  every  industry  and  state 
where  the  system  of  contract  labor  obtains.  The 

1  Report  of  Board  of  Prison  Inspectors,  1876,  p.  27. 


THE  PRISONER  —  WARD  OR  SLAVE?    59 

wide-spread  public  belief  to  this  effect  is  shown  by 
the  number  of  states  which  have  prohibited,  in  whole 
or  in  part,  the  leasing  of  convict  labor  to  private 
contractors. 

Summing  up  the  facts  of  the  case,  it  may  be  said 
that  the  state  stands  in  the  place  of  the  slave-owner 
of  ante-bellum  days ;  and  the  contractor  is  the  lessee, 
or  purchaser  for  a  term  of  years,  of  the  services 
of  the  convict.  This  amounts  in  substance  to  a 
disposal  of  the  convict  himself,  since  it  entails  of 
necessity  the  practical  control  of  the  convict's 
person,  as  well  as  his  services,  by  the  lessee's  agent. 
It  is  true  that  the  latter  has  not  absolute  power 
over  the  convict's  person.  Neither  did  the  lessee 
of  a  slave;  he  was  obliged  to  use  reasonable  care 
and  moderation  in  the  treatment  and  discipline  of 
the  slave  hired  by  him  and  was  liable  to  the  owner 
for  any  injury  resulting  from  an  abuse  of  power.1 

The  fact  that  part  of  the  state's  control  over  the 
convict  was  not  delegated  by  the  Board  of  Control 
and  Supply  to  the  contractor  is  not  sufficient  to 
differentiate  the  present  case.  The  statute  obviously 
authorized  the  Board  to  delegate  to  the  contractor 
complete  control  over  the  person  and  conduct  of  the 
prisoner  while  at  work,  subject  to  the  restriction 
as  to  corporal  punishment,  and  this  power  conferred 
by  the  Board,  not  the  extent  to  which  it  was  exer- 
cised, is  the  test  of  the  statute's  validity.  A  court 
in  passing  on  the  constitutionality  of  a  statute  is 
not  confined  to  its  language,  but  may  look  to  its 
necessary  or  natural  effect  and  its  actual  operation. 
Hence,  a  statute,  which  is  fair  on  its  face  will  be 
found  unconstitutional  if  in  its  actual  operation 

1Latimer  v.  Alexander,  14  Ga.  259;  Craig's  Adm'r  v.  Lee,  53  Ky. 
96;  James  v.  Carper  (Term.),  4  Sneed  397. 


60    THE  PRISON  AND  THE  PRISONER 

it  leads  to  a  result,  prohibited  by  the  constitution, 
or  if  its  natural  effect  will  be  to  bring  about  such  a 
result.  Applying  such  a  test  to  the  statute  authoriz- 
ing the  State  Board  of  Control  and  Supply  to  con- 
tract the  labor  of  prisoners,  the  statute  is  in  viola- 
tion of  the  provision  of  the  State  Constitution 
forbidding  slavery  and  must  be  deemed  invalid. 

The  counsel  for  the  defense,  Honorable  Herbert 
A.  Rice,  Attorney  General  of  Rhode  Island,  and  Mr. 
Zechariah  Chafee,  Jr.,  threw  interesting  light  on  the 
question  of  convict  slavery.  Their  argument  may 
be  briefly  summarized  as  follows : 

The  letting  of  prison  labor  by  the  state  under 
contract  is  not  slavery  within  the  Rhode  Island 
Constitution  when  considered  both  in  the  light  of 
Rhode  Island  statutes  and  decisions  and  on  general 
authority. 

The  rights  and  conditions  of  a  prisoner  under 
Rhode  Island  law  are  widely  different  from  those  of 
a  slave.  The  accepted  definition  of  slavery,  "slav- 
ery as  defined  in  our  statutes  means  a  special  kind 
of  servitude  for  life,"  puts  the  emphasis  on  "servitude 
for  life"  which  was  considered  interchangeable 
with  slavery.  Moreover,  slavery  was  the  ownership 
of  one  human  being  by  another  and  not  simply  the 
temporary  service  which  existed  in  the  case  at  bar. 
The  word  "slave"  as  used  in  the  Rhode  Island 
statutes,  clearly  meant  a  person  held  under  the 
well-known  institution  of  slavery,  and  not  one 
under  involuntary  servitude  in  a  general  sense. 
The  members  of  the  constitutional  convention  in 
1842,1  living  under  these  statutes,  would  naturally 

i  Laws  of  Rhode  Island,  1798,  p.  607.  Public  Laws,  1822,  p.  441 
(in  force  till  1844). 


THE  PRISONER  —  WARD  OR  SLAVE?    61 

have  them  In  mind  when  they  used  the  word,  and 
employ  it  with  the  same  meaning. 

The  rights  of  a  prisoner  are  far  wider  in  Rhode 
Island  than  those  of  a  slave : 

"The  slave  had  no  property  rights  whatever, 
could  neither  sue  nor  be  sued,  nor  take  by  descent, 
there  being  in  him  no  inheritable  blood." 

The  rights  of  a  Rhode  Island  prisoner  in  regard 
to  property  and  access  to  the  courts  may  be  con- 
trasted with  those  of  a  slave : 

A  convict  can  have  interest  in  property  while  a 
slave  cannot;  a  convict  can  sue  while  a  slave  can- 
not; a  convict  is  liable  on  a  contractual  obligation 
while  a  slave  is  not,  this  distinction  remaining 
whether  or  not  the  convict's  labor  is  subject  to  a 
contract.  While  the  convict's  rights  are  consider- 
ably limited  because  of  his  imprisonment  he  still 
retains  many  important  rights,  which  a  slave  en- 
tirely lacks,  and  consequently  cannot  be  considered 
a  slave  under  our  law. 

Definitions  and  judicial  descriptions  of  slavery,  not 
limited  to  Rhode  Island  but  based  on  general  author- 
ity, do  not  apply  to  the  situation  of  the  plaintiff. 

The  only  characteristics,  according  to  these  defini- 
tions, which  a  slave  and  the  plaintiff  have  in  com- 
mon are  compulsory  unpaid  labor  with  benefit  to 
the  private  person,  and  confinement.  There  are 
several  other  important  features  of  slavery  which 
may  be  considered  in  the  following  order : 

(1)  Deprivation  of  practically  all  civil  rights; 

(2)  Practically  complete  control  by  a  master; 


62    THE  PRISON  AND  THE  PRISONER 

(3)  Service  for  life ; 

(4)  The    imposition    of    similar    disqualifications 

upon  the  offspring. 

Deprivation  of  practically  all  civil  rights:  A  slave 
could  neither  sue  nor  be  sued,  at  law  or  in  equity, 
except  to  enforce  his  freedom.1  A  convict  can  sue 
and  can  be  sued  and  appear  to  defend  himself.2 

A  slave  could  not  contract  and  an  attempted 
contract  created  no  rights  or  obligations  on  either 
side.3  A  convict  can  contract.4 

A  slave  could  not  own  property  or  acquire  it  by 
deed  or  will,  except  that  his  freedom  could  be  willed 
him.5  A  convict  can  acquire  and  own  property, 
although  according  to  the  Rhode  Island  Statutes, 
he  cannot  convey  it  or  make  a  will.6  The  convict 
is  not  a  mere  chattel  like  a  slave  but  has  the  same 
rights  with  regard  to  his  person  as  any  other  man.7 

Practically  complete  control  by  a  master :  A  man 
is  not  a  slave  unless  an  owner  is  shown  to  exist. 
The  convict  cannot  show  completeness  of  control 
as  paragraph  sixth  of  the  contract  between  the 
state  and  the  Shirt  Company  provides : 

1  Wicks  v.  Chew,  4  H.  and  J.  (Md.)  543,  547.     Stenhouse  v.  Bonum, 
12  Rich.  (S.  C.)  620. 

2  Bowles  v.  Habermann,  95  N.  Y.  246. 

3  Hall  v.  U.  S..  92  U.  S.  27. 

4  Stephani  v.  Lent,  63  N.  Y.,  Supp.  471. 

B  Jackson  v.  Lervey,  5  Cow.  (N.  Y.)  397.  Gist  v.  Toohey,  2  Rich. 
(S.  C.)  424. 

6  Avery  ».  Everett,  110  N.  Y.  317.     La  Chapelle  v.  Burpee,  69  Hun 
436. 

7  Westbrook  v.  State,  133  Ga.  578,  585  (1909).     St.  Louis  etc.  Co.  v. 
Hydrick,  Ark.  (1913)  160  S.  W.  1.96. 


THE  PRISONER  — WARD  OR  SLAVE?    63 

"It  is  understood  and  agreed  that  said  party  of 
the  first  part  (the  state)  shall  at  all  times  have  the 
right  to  control  and  govern  said  inmates,  to  regulate 
their  conduct  and  to  assign  the  tasks  to  be  performed 
under  this  agreement,  and  further  to  make  and  in- 
stitute all  rules  and  regulations  for  the  proper  dis- 
cipline and  guidance  of  said  inmates,  and  at  any 
time  to  change  the  same,  and  further  to  forbid  and 
prevent  any  mode,  or  any  manner  or  method  of 
performing  the  same,  that  may  be  deemed  injurious 
to  the  health,  dangerous  to  the  person,  or  subversive 
to  prison  discipline." 

Under  such  circumstances  the  relation  between 
the  Shirt  Company  and  the  plaintiff  is  not  even 
so  strong  as  that  of  master  and  servant. 

Other  cases  are  cited  which  hold  that  the  contrac- 
tor is  not  liable  to  an  outsider  for  injury  caused  by 
a  convict's  negligence,  as  the  latter  was  not  a  serv- 
ant ; 1  and  that  the  contractor  is  not  liable  for  the 
willful  act  of  a  convict  leased,  since  the  state  had 
control,  even  though  the  injury  was  on  Sunday 
when  the  contractor  paid  the  convict  for  his  labor.2 
This  case  is  especially  strong  because  the  convict 
was  receiving  pay  from  the  contractor,  yet  even 
this  circumstance,  in  addition  to  those  which  existed 
in  the  case  at  bar,  was  not  sufficient  to  make  the 
contractor  master  of  the  convict. 

Service  for  Life :  Service  for  Life  is  a  well-known 
characteristic  of  slavery3  which  does  not  exist  in 
the  plaintiff's  case. 

1  Cunningham  v.  Bay  State,  25  Hun  210. 

2  St.  Louis,  etc.  v.  Boyle,  83  Ark.  302. 

3  Pennsylvania  Statute  of  March  1,  1780.     Barrington  v.  Logan,  2 
Dana  (Ky.)  432,  434.     Miller  v.  Dwilling,  14  Serg.  and  R.  442. 


64    THE  PRISON  AND  THE  PRISONER 

The  imposition  of  similar  disqualifications  upon 
the  offspring:  The  children  of  slave  women  were 
slaves.  Of  course,  the  children  of  a  convict  are  not 
convicts,  nor  can  they,  in  Rhode  Island,  be  sub- 
jected to  any  disability. 

Thus,  unlike  a  slave,  the  plaintiff  could  sue  and 
be  sued,  contract,  own  and  acquire  property;  he 
was  hardly  at  all  under  the  control  of  his  alleged 
master,  the  Shirt  Company;  he  was  not  in  service 
for  life ;  and  no  disqualifications  were  imposed  upon 
his  offspring.  In  view  of  these  circumstances  his  con- 
dition was  absolutely  different  from  that  of  a  slave. 

The  contracts  for  the  labor  of  convicts  existed 
in  Rhode  Island  before  1842  when  the  constitution 
was  drafted.  An  act  of  February  3,  1838,  reads : 

"Nor  shall  they  (the  inspectors  of  the  state 
prison)  be  in  any  way  interested  in  any  contract 
for  the  supplies  for  the  same  (the  prison)  or  the  labor 
of  the  convicts."  Thus  contracts  for  the  labor 
of  convicts  were  in  sufficient  common  use  to  make 
it  desirable  that  those  in  charge  of  the  prison  should 
be  prohibited  from  having  any  improper  personal 
interest  in  such  contracts.  If  the  word  "slavery" 
in  the  constitution  was  intended  to  have  a  wide 
meaning  and  include  the  letting  of  prison  contracts, 
why  were  such  contracts  suffered  to  continue  and 
why  five  years  after  the  constitution  was  drafted 
did  the  legislature,  which  included  many  members 
of  the  constitutional  convention,  expressly  provide 
for  contracts  for  prison  labor  ?  1 

Thus,  although  the  validity  of  the  prison  contracts 
has  never  been  before  the  courts,  it  has  been  re- 
peatedly recognized  by  legislators  through  a  period 

i  Public  Laws  of  Rhode  Island  (1844-1857),  p.  672. 


THE  PRISONER  —  WARD  OR  SLAVE?    65 

of  over  seventy-five  years,  nor  has  it  been  questioned 
by  any  person  until  this  suit  was  brought.  Such 
protracted,  continuous  and  thorough  acquiescence, 
if  not  conclusive,  is  a  strong  argument,  and  the 
settled  opinion  and  practice  of  many  legislatures  is 
entitled  to  serious  consideration,  even  if  it  has  not 
the  authority  of  a  judicial  decision. 

If  it  is  not  slavery  for  the  state  to  employ  the 
prisoners  in  making  articles  which  are  sold  by  the 
state  to  an  outsider,  who  resells  them  at  a  profit  to 
himself,  then  it  is  not  slavery  for  the  state  to 
oblige  the  prisoners  to  work  on  materials  furnished 
by  an  outsider  when  the  state  retains  control  over 
the  prisoners  and  is  paid  by  the  outsider  for  their 
labor.  In  both  cases,  they  are  servants  of  the 
state  and  controlled  only  by  the  state.  In  the  one 
case,  the  state  furnishes  goods  to  an  outsider;  and 
in  the  other,  labor,  just  as  when  a  carpenter  brings 
his  gang  to  work  on  a  house.  The  gang  does  not 
become  the  servants  of  the  owner  of  the  house.  It 
may  be  said  that  it  is  slavery  for  the  state  to  oblige 
the  prisoners  to  work  for  the  profit  of  the  contractor, 
but  there  is  a  similar  profit  for  the  contractor  if  he 
buys  goods  from  the  state  and  then  resells. 

The  question  of  slavery  or  no  slavery  can  hardly 
be  said  to  depend  upon  whether  the  state  is  paid 
an  adequate  price  for  the  labor  of  the  prisoners. 

Moreover,  even  when  the  prisoners  are  employed 
on  material  furnished  by  the  state,  private  persons 
may  profit.  Shortly  after  Rhode  Island  had  pro- 
hibited slavery  in  its  constitution  the  legislature 
provided  that  "the  keeper  of  each  county  jail,  except 
the  jail  of  the  county  of  Providence,  shall  be  allowed 
in  full  for  his  services  under  this  Act,  fifty  per  cent 
of  all  profits  on  the  labor  done  under  his  care  and 


66    THE  PRISON  AND  THE  PRISONER 

oversight  by  prisoners  committed  to  such  jail." 
If  the  plaintiff  was  a  slave  of  the  shirt  factory,  then  the 
prisoners  under  this  statute  were  slaves  of  the  keeper. 

The  consideration  of  the  provisions  as  to  slavery 
in  other  constitutions  shows  that  it  does  not  include 
prison  contract  labor. 

The  provision  in  the  federal  constitution  regard- 
ing slavery  came  from  the  ordinance  of  1787  enacted 
by  the  Continental  Congress  for  the  government 
of  the  Northwest  Territory.  The  federal  constitu- 
tional amendment  abolishing  slavery  was  in  ful- 
fillment of  the  plank  in  the  Republican  platform  of 
1864:  "We  are  in  favor  of  such  an  amendment 
to  the  constitution,  to  be  made  by  the  people  in 
conformity  with  its  provisions,  as  shall  terminate 
and  forever  prohibit  the  existence  of  slavery  within 
the  limits  of  the  jurisdiction  of  the  United  States." 

This  plank  makes  no  exception  of  slavery  as  pun- 
ishment for  crime.  The  reason  for  the  addition  of 
"Involuntary  servitude"  is  given  by  Justice  Miller  1 
who  explains  that  the  word  "slavery"  was  too  nar- 
row to  apply  to  imperfect  forms  of  servitude,  or  in 
the  words  of  Professor  Willoughby  :2  "Its  terms 
were  purposely  made  broad  enough  to  include  not 
only  the  slavery  of  any  person,  whatever  his  race  or 
color,  but  his  involuntary  servitude  save  as  a  punish- 
ment for  crime." 

Punishment  for  crime  is  the  one  kind  of  invol- 
untary servitude  which  properly  could  not  be  for- 
bidden. Therefore,  as  Professor  Willoughby  says, 
the  exception  was  made  to  the  prohibition  of  invol- 
untary servitude.  Some  commentators  on  the  con- 

1  Slaughter  House  Cases,  16  Wall.  36,  42.         2  Constitution,  p.  850. 


THE  PRISONER  — WARD  OR  SLAVE?    67 

stitution  have  considered  that  it  is  also  an  exception 
to  the  prohibition  of  slavery.  This  question  has 
never  been  passed  upon  by  the  courts  but  it  is  incon- 
ceivable that  a  man  convicted  of  crime  should  be 
condemned  to  the  condition  of  a  negro  slave  before 
the  Civil  War  and  the  exception  in  the  thirteenth 
amendment  can  be  said  to  modify  only  the  words 
immediately  before,  "involuntary  servitude",  and 
not  the  word  "slavery."  Slavery  is  absolutely 
forbidden  by  the  Thirteenth  Amendment  as  well 
as  by  the  Rhode  Island  Constitution,  and  if  prison 
contract  labor  is  illegal  slavery  in  Rhode  Island  it 
is  illegal  slavery  throughout  the  United  States.  Yet 
no  case  has  ever  arisen  contesting  its  constitutionality 
on  this  ground,  and  the  United  States  Supreme  Court 
has  decided  litigation  connected  with  prison  contract 
labor  without  question  as  to  its  validity.1 

The  prohibition  of  the  Rhode  Island  Constitu- 
tion is  not  wider  than  that  of  the  federal  constitu- 
tion ;  it  is  narrower.  In  the  absence  of  any  informa- 
tion, the  word  "slavery"  must  be  taken  in  the  sense 
usual  at  that  time  and  applied  to  the  institution  of 
slavery  as  it  then  existed.  It  could  not  for  instance 
be  applied  to  the  white  slave  trade. 

The  upshot  of  the  discussion  is  this.  "Slavery" 
in  the  Federal  Constitution  has  been  regarded  as 
a  narrow  term,  meaning  an  institution  like  that 
which  formerly  existed  in  this  country,  and  "in- 
voluntary servitude"  was  added  to  include  imperfect 
forms  of  compulsory  labor.  There  is  no  reason  to 
suppose  that  "slavery"  had  a  wider  significance  in 
the  Rhode  Island  Constitution.2 

1  Nugent  c.  Arizona  Co.,  173  U.  S.  338. 

3  R.  I.  State  Constitutional  Journal,  etc.  (In  Library  of  the  Rhode 
Island  Historical  Society,  R.  34  J.) 


68    THE  PRISON  AND  THE  PRISONER 

In  many  constitutions  there  is  possibly  an  excep- 
tion of  slavery  in  punishment  of  crime,  but  such  a 
construction  is  objectionable  and  if  it  is  not  taken, 
the  existence  of  prison  contract  labor  under  those 
constitutions,  particularly  that  of  the  United  States, 
is  an  argument  that  such  labor  is  not  slavery.  In 
the  Constitution  of  Rhode  Island  and  several  other 
states,  no  such  exception  can  possibly  be  construed, 
and  the  long-unquestioned  establishment  of  prison 
contract  labor  in  all  of  these  states  except  Ohio  is 
a  serious  obstacle  in  the  way  of  the  plaintiff.  The 
judiciary  of  one  of  these  states,  Alabama,  has  ex- 
pressly declared  that  prison  contract  labor  is  not 
slavery.1 

Comparison  is  made  between  the  system  of  con- 
tracting the  labor  of  convicts  and  of  apprenticing 
minors  without  pay  to  be  skilled  mechanics.  The 
servitude  in  cases  of  apprenticeship  is  held  nearer 
slavery  than  in  the  case  of  the  convict  because 
the  latter  did  have  a  choice  whether  or  not  he  would 
commit  the  crime  while  the  minor  has  no  choice  in 
the  matter,  absolute  power  to  bind  him  out  being 
in  the  hands  of  his  father.2 

The  binding  out  of  the  pauper  children  and  adults 
by  the  overseer  of  the  poor  is  analogous  to  the 
case  at  bar.  A  decision  that  prison  contract  labor 
is  slavery  would  necessarily  result  in  a  declara- 
tion that  this  method  of  lessening  the  burden  of 
pauperism  on  the  public  is  also  slavery,  though 
it  has  prevailed  since  1741  and  is  provided  for  in 
the  very  statute  which  abolished  slavery.3 

1  Buchalew  v.  Tennessee  Coal,  etc.,  Co.,  112  Ala.  146,  157  (1895). 

2  General  Laws  1909,  c.  249,  §  1,  Nelson  v.  People,  33  111.  390  (1864), 


3  Exeter  v.  Warwick,  1  R.  I.  63,  65 ;  Kennedy  ».  Meara,  127  Ga.  68,  77. 


THE  PRISONER  —  WARD  OR  SLAVE?    69 

Employment  of  prisoners  at  hard  labor  is  a  long 
established  practice  in  all  the  states  which  clearly 
abolish  slavery  without  exception  as  to  punishment 
for  crime,  yet  in  no  case  has  it  been  held  to  be 
slavery.1 

Other  forms  of  compulsory  labor  which  are  closely 
connected  with  the  functions  of  the  state  and  public 
welfare  have  not  been  held  as  slavery;  compulsory 
labor  on  streets  with  imprisonment  as  a  penalty  for 
refusal,2  compulsory  military  service,3  compulsory 
service  by  merchant  sailors  who  attempt  to  desert,4 
working  out  fines  for  violations  of  municipal  ordi- 
nances not  amounting  to  crimes.5 

To  sum  up  the  arguments  for  the  defence : 

The  plaintiff  was  not  a  slave,  because  the  de- 
fendants had  none  of  the  control  over  him  which  a 
master  has  over  his  slave;  because  prison  contract 
labor  has  never  been  held  to  be  slavery  in  this  or 
any  other  state  which  absolutely  forbids  slavery, 
and  because  it  is  declared  by  the  Supreme  Courts 
of  Illinois  and  Georgia  not  to  be  slavery;  because 
it  existed  when  the  Rhode  Island  Constitution  was 
drafted,  and  was  expressly  continued  by  a  statute 
passed  soon  afterwards,  and  reenacted  over  and 
over  again,  so  that  all  contemporary  and  legislative 
opinion  in  this  state  supports  its  constitutionality; 
because  hard  labor  and  other  analogous  forms  of 
involuntary  servitude  are  not  slavery ;  and  because 
a  direct  Rhode  Island  decision  6  and  many  other 

iTopeka  v.  Boutwell,  53  Kan.  20;  27  L.  R.  A.  593  (1894). 

2  Re  Dassler,  35  Kan.  678,  684  (1886). 

3  Peonage  Cases,  123  Fed.  671,  681  (1903).     * 

4  Robertson  v.  Baldwin,  165  U.  S.  275,  282. 

8  Mayor,  etc.,  of  Monroe  v.  Meuer,  35  La.  Ann.  1192. 
6  Kenyon  v.  Saunders,  18  R.  I.  590. 


70    THE  PRISON  AND  THE  PRISONER 

cases  l  show  that  a  convict,  whether  under  a  labor 
contract  or  not,  has  opportunities  and  rights  com- 
pletely denied  to  a  slave. 

The  temporary  and  limited  effect  of  a  prison 
contract  upon  the  laborer,  and  its  public  purposes, 
differentiate  it  sharply  from  the  complete  private 
appropriation  of  labor  forbidden  by  the  slavery 
clause  of  our  constitution. 

The  logical  conclusion  is  that  the  statute  authoriz- 
ing the  prison  contract  is  not  in  conflict  with  the 
constitution  and  the  contract  is  legal. 

In  the  Reply  Brief  for  the  plaintiff  we  find  further 
consideration  of  the  authorities  relied  upon  by  the 
defendant : 

The  Counsel  for  the  defence,  it  is  stated,  argued 
from  the  statute  of  1798,  which  seems  to  use 
"slavery"  and  "servitude  for  life"  as  synonymous 
terms ;  they  also  claimed  that  the  constitution  of 
1842  used  the  word  "slavery"  in  the  same  limited 
sense. 

This  conclusion  does  not  follow.  The  Act  of 
1798  was  a  very  partial  abolition  of  slavery  compared 
to  the  constitutional  provisions,  both  state  and 
federal,  which  came  after  it.  For  example,  Section 
I  provided : 

"That  for  the  future  no  negro,  mulatto,  or  Indian 
slave  shall  be  brought  into  this  State;  and  if  any 
slave  shall  hereafter  be  brought  in,  he  or  she  shall  be 
and  hereby  is  rendered  immediately  free,  so  far  as 
respects  personal  freedom  and  the  enjoyment  of 

1  Previously  cited  in  this  article. 


THE  PRISONER  —  WARD  OR  SLAVE?    71 

private  property  in  the  same  manner  as  the  native 
Indian ;  provided  nevertheless  that  this  Act  should 
not  be  deemed  to  extend  to  the  domestic  slaves  or 
servants  of  citizens  of  other  states  or  of  foreigners 
traveling  through  the  State  or  coming  to  reside 
therein,  nor  to  servants  or  slaves  escaping  from 
service  or  servitude  in  other  states,  or  in  foreign 
countries  and  coming  of  their  own  accord  into  this 
state." 

It  is  apparent  that  the  intention  of  this  Act  was 
not  absolutely  to  do  away  with  human  bondage 
within  the  state. 

The  simple,  direct  provision  of  the  constitution 
of  1842  evidences  quite  a  different  intention.  "Slav- 
ery shall  not  be  permitted  in  this  state."  The 
absence  of  definition  or  qualification  suggests  an 
intentional  broader  use  of  the  term.  It  is  impos- 
sible to  believe  that  the  framers  of  the  Rhode  Island 
Constitution  in  1842  —  only  19  years  before  the 
outbreak  of  the  Civil  War  —  intended  to  permit, 
even  in  a  qualified  form,  the  existence  of  human 
bondage  within  the  state. 

The  assertion,  sustained  by  reference  to  the  Act 
of  1838,  that  prison  contracts  existed  prior  to  the 
constitution  does  not  hold,  in  that  the  report  of 
the  Board  of  Inspectors  in  1876  definitely  states 
that  the  contract  system  was  introduced  in  1852. 
The  same  report  shows  that  "on  the  16th  of  Novem- 
ber of  that  year  four  convicts  were  committed"  to 
the  cells  of  the  State  Prison.  If  the  contract  system 
obtained  among  these  four  prisoners  —  and  we  may 
safely  take  the  word  of  the  State  Prison  Inspectors 
that  it  did  not  —  it  must  have  been  a  somewhat 
insignificant  problem,  not  in  the  minds  of  the  fram- 
ers of  the  Constitution. 


72    THE  PRISON  AND  THE  PRISONER 

Regarding  the  "chief  characteristics  of  slavery" 
enumerated  in  the  defence,  it  has  been  earlier  shown 
that  all  of  these  disabilities  attached  to  the  ordinary 
slave  in  most  of  the  Southern  States,  but  that  nearly 
all  of  them,  either  by  statute  or  common  law,  were 
partially  removed  in  several  states  of  the  South. 
In  short,  they  were  the  usual  but  not  the  necessary 
incidents  of  slavery  as  it  obtained  in  the  South 
before  the  Thirteenth  Amendment. 

The  statement  that  the  convict  is  not  a  mere 
chattel  like  a  slave  but  has  the  same  rights  with 
regard  to  his  person  as  any  other  man  can  hardly 
hold  when  viewed  in  the  light  of  the  following  stat- 
ute provision : 

"A  warden  in  charge  of  convicts  working  on  a 
county  chain-gang  has  no  authority  to  administer 
corporal  punishment  to  a  convict  except  such  as 
may  be  reasonably  necessary  to  compel  the  convict 
to  work  or  labor  in  the  execution  o¥  his  sentence 
or  to  maintain  proper  discipline."  1 

The  inference  is  that  in  the  absence  of  such  stat- 
ute provision,  there  would  be  no  limitation  on  the 
power  of  the  warden,  while  even  under  this  statute 
the  condition  of  the  convict  is  not  substantially 
unlike  that  of  the  old  time  slave. 

A  decision  holding  that  the  convict  is  not  the 
contractor's  servant  seems  rather  irrelevant  to  the 
question  of  the  status  of  the  convict  himself.  Be- 
sides it  is  not  necessary  to  a  condition  of  slavery 
that  a  slave  be  subject  to  the  control  and  direction 
of  a  single  person,  the  contractor.  The  control  may 
well  be  divided,  as  in  this  case.  If  the  convict 
were  owned  outright  by  the  state  and  his  services 

1  Westbrook  v.  State,  133  Ga.  578. 


THE  PRISONER  — WARD  OR  SLAVE?    73 

leased  to  the  contractor,  no  one  would  question  that 
a  state  of  slavery  existed ;  yet  such  a  control  would 
be  as  divided  as  it  is  in  the  present  case. 

It  has  been  argued  that  the  qualification  "except 
as  a  punishment  for  crime"  in  the  Federal  Consti- 
tution does  not  apply  to  slavery,  but  only  to  invol- 
untary servitude.  The  language  and  punctuation 
of  the  Thirteenth  Amendment  do  not  seem  to  justify 
this  interpretation.  It  is  natural,  however,  that 
judges  should  be  unwilling  to  concede,  when  they 
do  not  have  to  decide,  that  slavery  in  its  narrowest 
sense  —  the  ownership  of  mankind  as  a  chattel  — 
is  permitted  by  the  Thirteenth  Amendment  even  as 
a  punishment  for  crime. 

It  does  not  follow,  however,  that  slavery  in  its 
broader  sense  is  not  excepted  from  the  prohibition 
of  the  Thirteenth  Amendment  along  with  involun- 
tary servitude.  Even  if  it  were  so  it  would  not 
follow  that  the  system  under  which  the  plaintiff's 
services  were  sold  to  the  defendant  does  not  con- 
stitute slavery  within  the  meaning  of  the  Rhode 
Island  Constitution. 

The  prevalence  of  the  Contract  System  in  other 
states  whose  constitutions  forbid  slavery  in  any 
form  is  slight  argument  for  the  legality  of  the  sys- 
tem when  it  has  not  been  the  subject  of  direct  judi- 
cial attack  on  that  ground.1 

That  no  analogy  ought  to  be  established  between 
contract  labor  and  the  employment  of  prisoners  at 
ordinary  hard  labor  has  earlier  been  discussed. 
Apprenticeship  and  compulsory  service  are  dis- 
posed of  by  the  Supreme  Court  as  follows  : 2 

1  In  Buckalaw  v.  Tennessee  Coal  etc.,  Co.,  112  Ala.  146. 

2  Clyatt  v.  United  States,  207,  218  (1905). 


74    THE  PRISON  AND  THE  PRISONER 

"We  need  not  stop  to  consider  any  possible 
limits  or  exceptional  cases  such  as  the  services  of  a 
sailor,1  or  the  obligations  of  a  child  to  its  parents, 
or  of  an  apprentice  to  his  master,  or  the  power  of 
the  legislature  to  make  unlawful  and  punish  crim- 
inally an  abandonment  by  an  employe  of  his  post 
of  labor  in  any  extreme  cases." 

Clearly  the  punishment  of  crime  was  not  con- 
sidered one  of  these  implied  exceptions  by  the 
framers  of  the  Thirteenth  Amendment,  or  they 
would  not  have  included  it  expressly. 

The  binding  out  of  pauper  children  as  appren- 
tices by  the  overseer  of  the  poor  is  hardly  an  analo- 
gous case.  The  opinion  in  regard  to  binding  out 
pauper  children  states : 

"Therefore  it  necessarily  follows  that  when  the 
state  has  to  assume  the  control  and  custody  of  the 
child,  its  conduct  towards  it  would  be  the  same  that 
a  dutiful  parent  would  exercise,  keeping  in  view  the 
welfare  of  the  child."  2 

No  argument  is  needed  to  show  the  difference 
between  that  case  and  this.  That  the  state  stands 
in  loco  parentis  to  the  convict,  and  leases  his  services 
to  a  private  contractor  with  an  eye  to  the  convict's 
welfare,  will  hardly  be  contended. 

Prison  contract  labor  is  primarily  a  benefit  to 
the  private  contractor  and  incidentally  a  benefit 
to  the  state.  The  vast  discrepancy  between  the 
compensation  paid  the  state  under  such  a  contract 
and  the  wages  paid  free  labor  is  demonstration 

1  Robertson  v.  Baldwin,  165  U.  S.  275. 

2  Kennedy  v.  Meara,  127  Ga.  68. 


THE  PRISONER  — WARD  OR  SLAVE?    75 

thereof.  The  private  rather  than  the  public  nature 
of  the  benefits  derived  from  such  contracts,  as 
well  as  their  detrimental  effects  upon  the  convict, 
the  state,  and  the  public  at  large  have  led  to  the 
abandonment  of  the  system  in  many  states. 

The  opinion  handed  down  in  February,  1916, 
some  fifteen  months  after  the  case  was  heard,  was 
by  Chief  Justice  Johnson. 

The  court,  in  a  lengthy  and  elaborate  opinion, 
sustained  the  arguments  of  the  plaintiff's  counsel 
that  the  clause  of  the  Rhode  Island  Constitution 
under  consideration  had  the  same  effect  upon  slav- 
ery as  the  Thirteenth  Amendment  to  the  Federal 
Constitution,  that  slavery  as  a  legal  status  ceased 
to  exist  within  the  state  upon  its  adoption,  and  that 
this  provision,  while  designed  to  forbid  slavery  as 
it  existed  in  this  country  and  had  existed  in  Rhode 
Island,  doubtless  applied  equally  to  all  races  of  men. 
The  point  to  be  determined,  then,  was  whether  the 
condition  of  the  plaintiff  was  slavery. 

The  court  found  that  "The  condition  of  slavery 
sought  to  be  established  is  a  synthetic  slavery  made 
up  from  the  incidents  inherent  in  the  conditions  of 
being  a  convict  lawfully  under  sentence  and  the 
fact  that  said  convict  was  compelled  to  work  pur- 
suant to  the  contract  made  under  the  statute. 

"As  we  have  seen,"  the  opinion  reads,  "the  alleged 
direct  control  by  the  contractor  is  not  present. 
The  plaintiff's  inability  to  dispose  of  his  person, 
property  and  service,  is  in  no  way  due  to  the  contract 
of  which  he  complains,  but  is  an  incident  of  his 
condition  as  a  convict.  Then,  on  the  other  hand, 


76    THE  PRISON  AND  THE  PRISONER 

there  are  present  rights  which  are  not  those  of  a 
slave,  as  the  right  to  sue  and  the  right  to  enter  into 
a  contractual  obligation  in  the  necessary  prose- 
cution of  his  suit;  and  in  short  all  the  rights  of  an 
ordinary  citizen  which  are  not  necessarily  taken 
from  him  by  reason  of  his  condition  as  a  convict. 
The  condition  of  alleged  slavery  which  he  has  con- 
structed fills  the  requirements  of  no  definition, 
which  has  been  cited,  not  even  the  one  he  selects 
as  the  most  accurate  one  to  be  found  in  the  books. 
That  requires  '  a  state  of  bondage  —  the  ownership 
of  mankind  as  a  chattel.'  That  portion  of  the  defi- 
nition he  passed  by  and  depends  upon  the  remain- 
ing portion,  viz. :  '  at  least,  the  control  of  labor  and 
services  of  one  man  for  the  benefit  of  another,  and 
the  absence  of  a  legal  right  to  the  disposal  of  his 
own  person,  property  and  service/  Of  the  portion 
thus  selected,  the  words :  *  the  control  of  labor  and 
services  of  one  man  for  the  benefit  of  another' 
constitute  the  sum  total  of  material  for  the  construc- 
tion of  the  condition  of  slavery  claimed,  as  'the 
absence  of  a  legal  right  to  dispose  of  his  own  person, 
property  or  services'  is  incident  to  his  legal  status 
as  a  convict  under  sentence  for  a  term  in  State 
Prison,  and  does  not  in  any  way  result  from  the 
contract.  As  to  said  first  part  of  said  selected  por-. 
tion  of  the  definition,  his  counsel  seem  to  recognize 
the  necessity  of  a  master  for  a  slave  and  say  that 
'  the  labor  and  service  of  the  plaintiff  were  controlled 
directly  by  the  contractor,'  which  is  not  alleged 
in  the  declaration,  adding  'and  he  was  compelled 
by  force  and  threats,  against  his  will,  to  perform 
tasks  assigned  him,'  which  last  is  alleged  in  the 
declaration,  but  the  declaration  fails  to  allege  that 
he  was  thus  compelled  by  the  defendant. 

"As  has  been  seen,  it  is  not  claimed  that  to  cause 
a  prisoner  to  work  for  the  State  is  a  violation  of  the 
constitutional  provision  forbidding  slavery,  but  that 


THE  PRISONER  — WARD  OR  SLAVE?    77 

to  cause  him  to  work  upon  the  materials  of  another 
than  the  State,  under  a  contract  between  such  other 
person  and  the  State,  under  the  control  of  the  State, 
in  the  prison  of  the  State,  the  State  receiving  compen- 
sation therefor,  results  in  the  transformation  of  the 
labor  which  is  imposed  upon  the  convict  as  a  part 
of  his  sentence,  into  that  of  a  slave,  and  constitutes 
a  condition  of  slavery.  If  this  contention  is  sound, 
it  follows  that  while  the  State  may  compel  the  con- 
vict to  work  for  the  State  upon  the  materials  of 
the  State  in  its  workshop  situated  in  the  prison,  the 
State  must  own  the  materials  upon  which  the  work 
is  done  or  the  convict  cannot  be  lawfully  compelled 
to  work.  The  State  must  therefore  engage  in  busi- 
ness in  which  it  directly  employs  the  convict  upon 
its  own  material  or  it  cannot  lawfully  compel  him 
to  work  at  all. 

"  Does  the  convict  work  any  the  less  for  the  State 
when  he  is  compelled  to  work  upon  the  property 
and  with  the  appliances  of  a  contractor  with  the 
State,  in  the  prison  of  the  State  under  the  control  of 
the  State,  for  a  wage  paid  to  the  State  by  the  con- 
tractor under  a  contract  made  with  the  State,  than 
when  he  so  works  upon  materials  owned  by  the 
State?  It  is  claimed  that  he  is  compelled  to  work 
for  the  benefit  of  another  and  not  for  the  State. 
True,  his  labor  is  done  upon  materials  which  are 
not  the  property  of  the  State.  The  contractor  with 
the  State,  however,  only  has  the  labor  done  thereon 
for  which  he  pays  the  State,  and  which  it  was  the 
right  of  the  State  to  have  done  as  a  part  of  the  sen- 
tence imposed  upon  the  convict.  We  cannot  think 
that  the  condition  of  the  convict  is  changed  by  such 
work  upon  the  materials  of  the  contractor  from  his 
condition  as  a  convict  into  that  of  a  slave,  either  of 
the  State  or  the  contractor. 

"We  see  no  reason  to  doubt  that,  in  adopting  Sec- 
tion 4  of  Article  I  of  the  Constitution,  the  conven- 


78    THE  PRISON  AND  THE  PRISONER 

tion  and  the  people  had  in  mind  slavery  as  it  then 
existed  in  some  of  the  states  of  the  Union  and  as 
it  had  existed  in  this  State. 

"The  word  'slavery'  at  that  time  was  used  both 
in  our  statutes  and  in  common  parlance  to  mean 
a  very  definite  thing,  namely,  the  institution  of 
slavery.  We  see  no  reason  to  suppose  that  it  was 
used  in  the  constitution  in  any  other  sense.  The 
fact  that  prison  labor  existed,  without  question, 
contemporaneously  with  the  adoption  of  the  con- 
stitution is  also  strong  evidence  that  the  prohibition 
was  not  intended  to  include  such  labor.  The  long 
acquiescence  in  the  legislative  exercise  of  the  power 
to  let  prison  labor,  beginning  January,  1847,  is  also 
a  strong  argument  in  favor  of  the  validity  of  that 
power. 

"We  are  of  the  opinion  that  the  plaintiff  has  en- 
tirely failed  to  establish  his  contention  that  his  sta- 
tus under  said  contract  was  that  of  a  slave." 

The  court  has  thus  decided  that  the  contract 
system  of  convict  labor,  when  the  contractor  is  not 
given  absolute  power  to  enforce  his  control  over  the 
prisoner,  does  not  create  a  slave  status  for  the  pris- 
oner. What  would  be  the  opinion  in  the  case  of  a 
contract  such  as  that,  dated  January  20,  1858, 
between  Thomas  W.  Hix,  Warden  of  Maine  State 
Prison,  and  David  H.  Summer  and  Henry  Maxcy, 
the  contractors  ?  After  providing  that  the  contrac- 
tors shall  feed  and  clothe  the  convicts,  the  contract 
continues  "and  it  is  hereby  further  stipulated  and 
agreed  that  the  aforesaid  overseers  in  the  several 
departments  of  labor  shall  perform  all  the  duties  of 
disciplinarians  and  turnkeys,  and  be  paid  by  the 
said  Summer  and  Maxcy."  This  would  appear 


THE  PRISONER  —  WARD  OR  SLAVE?    79 

to  give  definite  and  complete  power  of  enforcement 
to  the  contractors.  Would  it  create  a  slave  status 
for  the  prisoners  ? 

We  know  that  the  convict  is  not  a  freeman ;  the 
Rhode  Island  court  has  decided  that  under  the  con- 
tract system  when  the  contractor  has  not  absolute 
power  of  control  over  the  convict  the  latter  is  not 
a  slave.  We  have  yet  to  learn  what  the  precise  status 
of  the  convict  really  is.  Is  he  the  slave  of  the  State, 
a  ward  of  the  State,  or  does  he  occupy  still  some  other 
status  ? 

To  answer  the  question  we  must  know  the  true 
interpretation  of  the  Thirteenth  Amendment.  Does 
this  amendment  sanction  slavery,  or  merely  invol- 
untary servitude  as  punishment  for  crime?  A 
final  and  satisfactory  answer  to  this  question  can 
only  be  had  from  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United 
States.  Meanwhile,  however,  the  principles  and  v 
spirit  of  modern  penology  point  to  the  abolition  of 
uncompensated  prison  labor,  along  with  other  sur- 
vivals of  the  outworn  theory  that  the  convict  is  an 
outcast  from  society  and  has  no  human  rights  which 
the  State  sees  fit  to  withhold. 


CHAPTER  IV 
THE  CONTROL  OVER  THE  PRISONER 

PART  I  —  FEDERAL 

BY  GEORGE  GORDON  BATTLE 

Chairman,  Committee  on  the  Federal  Office  of  Prisons, 
National  Committee  on  Prisons  and  Prison  Labor 

PART  II  —  STATE 

BY  E.  STAGG  WHITIN,  PH.D. 

Chairman,  Executive  Council,  National  Committee  on  Prisons  and  Prison 

Labor 


CHAPTER  IV 
THE  CONTROL  OVER  THE  PRISONER 

PART  I  —  FEDERAL 

THE  Constitution  of  the  United  States  makes  no 
provision  for  the  punishment  of  crime  other  than  the 
violation  of  the  laws  of  the  United  States  as  they 
affect  international  relationships,  cases  of  admiralty 
and  maritime  jurisdictions,  and  the  relationships 
between  the  several  States,  between  citizens  of  dif- 
ferent States,  and  between  a  State  or  the  citizens 
thereof  and  foreign  States,  citizens  or  subjects.1 
All  other  matters  relative  to  the  perpetration  of 
crime  and  the  punishment  of  the  criminal  come  under 
the  jurisdiction  of  the  several  States.  Imprison- 
ment for  violation  of  our  international  relationships 
has  been  very  rare,  while,  until  a  few  years  ago,  there 
were  few  statutes  regulating  interstate  relationships 
under  which  convictions  were  made;  moreover,  of 
the  more  serious  offenses,  prior  to  1892,  sixteen  were 
punishable  by  death ! 2  The  result  has  been  that  the 
number  of  prisoners  held  directly  under  Federal 
control  has  been  restricted  to  the  military  and  naval 
prisoners  and  to  men  convicted  of  such  offenses  as 
tampering  with  the  mails  or  stealing  stamps,  pension 

1  Constitution  of  the  United  States,  Art.  Ill,  §  1. 

2  Gen.  Newton  Marten  Curtis,  Speech  before  the  House  of  Representa- 
tives, June  9,  1882. 

83 


84    THE  PRISON  AND  THE  PRISONER 

frauds,  infringement  of  patent  rights,  and  the  of- 
fenses of  the  frontier  —  cattle  stealing,  and  fraud- 
ulent registration  of  homestead  rights.  The  policy 
of  the  Federal  Government  has  further  limited  the 
number  of  prisoners,  for  the  control  of  which  it  is 
directly  responsible,  by  boarding  out  its  prisoners  in 
State  and  county  institutions,  where  they  are  subject 
to  the  same  rules  and  regulations  as  other  prisoners 
in  those  institutions.  These  several  factors  have 
contributed  to  render  the  development  of  our  Federal 
penal  system  of  minor  importance,  and  to-day  we  do 
not  look  to  the  Federal  Government  for  leadership 
in  prison  matters. 

This  state  of  affairs  cannot  continue.  The  ad- 
vancement of  the  theory  of  general  governmental 
supervision  has  greatly  increased  the  number  of 
statutes  under  which  prosecutions  are  made.  The 
greater  number  of  national  banks  and  the  severity 
of  the  laws  regulating  these  institutions  have  resulted 
in  a  corresponding  increase  in  the  number  of  persons 
prosecuted  for  violation  of  the  national  banking 
statutes.  The  Department  of  Agriculture  is  doing 
salutary  work  in  attempting  to  keep  pure  our  supply 
of  foods  and  drugs.  To  accomplish  this  a  number 
of  penal  statutes  have  been  enacted  under  which 
innumerable  criminal  prosecutions  have  been  insti- 
tuted. So  in  other  departments  of  government,  the 
field  of  operations  is  being  extended  with  an  attend- 
ant increase  of  criminal  prosecutions  to  enforce  the 
law.  The  present  attitude  toward  capital  punish- 
ment also  tends  to  increase  the  number  of  Federal 
prisoners,  for  although  the  death  penalty  is  still 


THE  CONTROL  OVER  THE  PRISONER     85 

retained  by  statute  for  murder,  rape,  and  treason, 
the  jury  is  given  the  option  of  life  imprisonment  even 
for  the  grave  offense  of  treason.  The  growing  oppo- 
sition to  the  exploitation  of  the  prisoner  under  the 
lease  and  contract  system  has  forced  the  withdrawal 
of  all  Federal  prisoners  from  State  and  county  insti- 
tutions where  such  systems  prevail,  and  the  retention 
of  these  prisoners  in  the  Federal  institutions. 

A  decided  increase  in  the  number  of  Federal  pris- 
oners has  resulted,  and  the  tendency  is  that  this 
number  will  grow  greater  and  greater,  while  we  must 
also  remember  that  public  standards  as  to  the  treat- 
ment of  the  prisoner  are  steadily  becoming  higher, 
and  the  public  will  naturally  expect  from  the  Federal 
prisons  conformance  with  the  standards,  if  not  the 
leadership,  already  pointed  out  as  lacking  to-day. 
The  control  over  Federal  prisoners  presents,  therefore, 
problems  of  increasing  difficulty,  and  makes  impera- 
tive a  well-conceived  plan,  and  a  well-equipped  plant 
to  carry  out  the  plan. 

The  present  system  falls  far  short  in  both  these 
essentials.  The  responsibility  for  the  Federal  prisons 
is  to  a  great  degree  vested  in  the  Department  of 
Justice,  a  department  overburdened  with  its  many 
other  duties.  Even  though  certain  matters  are  and 
have  been  from  time  to  time  under  other  departments 
—  State,  War,  Labor,  and  the  Interior  —  this  does 
little  to  lessen  the  real  burden  while  it  gives  rise  to 
the  many  difficulties  which  follow  divided  authority. 
The  situation  can  best  be  made  clear  by  a  brief  survey 
of  the  development  of  our  Federal  prison  system  and 
the  forces  that  have  directed  its  operation. 


86    THE  PRISON  AND  THE  PRISONER 

Congress  in  1821  directed  that  Federal  prisoners 
be  quartered  in  State  prisons  and  penitentiaries, 
subject  to  the  approval  of  the  State,  and  at  the  same 
time  such  prisoners  were  placed  under  the  custody 
of  United  States  marshals,  under  the  direction  of 
the  Federal  judges  of  the  various  districts.1  Thir- 
teen years  later  it  was  decreed  that  all  prisoners 
quartered  in  State  institutions  should  be  subjected 
to  the  same  discipline  and  treatment  as  the  prisoners 
of  the  State  or  territory  in  which  the  institution  was 
situated.2  Territorial  prisoners  were  brought  under 
the  jurisdiction  of  the  Attorney-General  in  1871, 
the  latter  being  empowered  to  prescribe  all  needful 
rules  and  regulations  for  their  government,  though 
the  United  States  marshals  were  made  responsible 
for  the  enforcement  of  these  rules  and  regulations. 

The  cost  of  maintenance,  custody,  and  control  of 
all  prisoners  in  "  a  territory  in  which  there  may  be 
no  penitentiary  or  jail,"  was  in  1864  authorized  to 
be  met  out  of  the  judiciary  fund  of  the  Department 
of  Justice.3 

We  have  noted  that  Federal  prisoners  quartered 
in  State  institutions  were  placed  under  the  custody 
of  the  United  States  marshals,  yet  statutes  were 
enacted  in  1870,  1875,  and  1891  providing  that  such 
prisoners  might  receive  a  deduction  of  time  for  good 
conduct  upon  a  certificate  of  good  conduct  from  the 
local  warden  or  keeper,  subject  to  the  approval  of 
the  Attorney-General.4 

1  U.  S.  Compiled  Stat.,  1901,  Sec.  5537-5538. 

2  U.  S.  Compiled  Stat.,  1901,  Sec.  5539. 

3  U.  S.  Compiled  Stat.,  1901,  Sec.  5540. 

4  U.  S.  Compiled  Stat.,  1901,  Sees.  5543-5544. 


THE  CONTROL  OVER  THE  PRISONER    87 

The  Federal  government  was  forced  to  make 
further  provision  for  its  prisoners  in  1887,  when  it 
was  enacted  that  the  Government  of  the  United 
States  should  not  contract  with  any  person  or  cor- 
poration for  the  labor  of  prisoners,  nor  permit  prison- 
ers to  remain  in  any  institution  where  the  contract 
system  obtained.1 

Responsibility  for  Federal  prisoners  was  placed 
upon  the  Secretary  of  the  Interior  as  early  as  1854 
when  the  warden  of  the  penitentiary  of  the  District 
of  Columbia  was  instructed  to  submit  to  him  his 
annual  report.2 

The  Secretary  of  the  Interior  was  further  in- 
structed by  a  statute  of  1874  to  transfer,  upon  the 
application  of  the  Attorney-General,  to  the  In- 
sane Asylum  in  the  District  of  Columbia  all  Federal 
prisoners  who  during  the  term  of  imprisonment 
should  become  insane.3 

This  act  in  1882  was  amended  to  include  "all 
persons  having  been  charged  with  offenses  against 
the  United  States  who  are  in  the  actual  custody  of 
the  officers." 

The  Attorney-General  and  the  Secretary  of  the 
Interior  in  1891  were  jointly  directed  to  purchase 
three  sites  for  prisons  for  all  persons  sentenced  to 
one  year  or  more  of  hard  labor  by  any  court  of  the 

1  U.  S.  Compiled  Stat.,  1901,  Sec.  5539. 

Editor's  Note.  —  Congress  has  begun  the  installation  of  industries  in 
Federal  prisons  for  the  production  of  supplies  needed  by  the  Federal 
Government,  by  appropriating  money  for  shops  in  the  Sundry  Civil 
Bill,  June  12,  1917. 

»  U.  S.  Compiled  Stat.,  1901,  Sec.  1828. 

8  U.  S.  Compiled  Stat.,  1901,  Sec.  4852. 


88    THE  PRISON  AND  THE  PRISONER 

United  States.1  They  were  jointly  to  select  the  sites 
and  erect  the  buildings,  but  the  Attorney-General 
alone  was  charged  with  the  expenditure  of  a  fund  of 
$100,000  for  the  equipment  of  workshops  where  the 
prisoners  were  to  be  employed  exclusively  "in  the 
manufacture  of  such  supplies  for  the  government 
as  can  be  manufactured  without  the  use  of  ma- 
chinery." The  Attorney-General  was  given  control 
over  these  prisons,  and  power  to  appoint  the  neces- 
sary officers  and  to  arrange  for  the  transportation  of 
prisoners,  while  expenses  for  marshals,  etc.,  were  to 
be  met  from  the  judiciary  fund. 

An  attempt  to  centralize  in  the  Department  of 
Justice  the  responsibility  for  Federal  prisoners  can 
be  noted  in  the  legislation  of  1895,  which  transferred 
the  military  prison  at  Fort  Leavenworth  from  the 
Department  of  War  to  the  Department  of  Justice.2 
This  centralization  was  of  short  duration,  however, 
as  next  year  the  Department  of  Justice  was  ordered 
to  restore  Fort  Leavenworth  to  the  War  Depart- 
ment,3 on  the  completion  of  a  new  penitentiary  on  the 
military  reserve,  though  the  plans  for  the  institution, 
the  employment  of  the  architect,  and  the  matters 
pertaining  to  its  construction  were  left  with  the 
Attorney-General . 

The  Department  of  State  was  drawn  into  the 
prison  arena  in  1896,  when  it  was  enacted  that  the 
United  States  subscribe  as  an  adhering  member  of 
the  International  Prison  Commission,  the  commis- 

1  U.  S.  Compiled  Stat.,  1901,  Sec.  5550. 

2  U.  S.  Compiled  Stat.,  1901,  Sec.  1361. 
*  U.  S.  Compiled  Stat.,  1901,  Sec.  5550. 


THE  CONTROL  OVER  THE  PRISONER    89 

sioner  to  be  appointed  by  the  President  "under  the 
Department  of  State."  l  Each  succeeding  Congress 
has  made  appropriation  for  the  expense  of  this  com- 
missioner and  for  the  proportionate  expense  of  the 
Commission  for  the  United  States. 

The  Secretary  of  Labor  also  has  his  activity  in 
connection  with  the  Federal  prison  system.  In  1914, 
in  response  to  a  Senate  Resolution  of  November  10, 
1913,  he  transmitted  to  Congress  a  compilation  of  all 
Federal  and  State  laws  relating  to  convict  labor,  in- 
cluding all  legislation  regulating  the  sale  and  trans- 
portation of  all  convict-made  goods,  in  so  far  as  they 
relate  to  interstate  commerce;  and  information  as 
to  the  effect  on  free  labor  of  the  sale  of  convict-made 
goods,  together  with  a  description  of  the  industries 
in  which  convict  labor  is  employed  and  the  value  of 
the  product  of  such  labor.2 

What  does  it  all  mean  ?  In  brief,  that  the  Presi- 
dent appoints  the  United  States  Commissioner  to  the 
International  Prison  Commission  who  serves  under 
the  State  Department.  The  Navy  Department  has 
control  over  naval  prisoners;  the  Department  of 
War  over  military  prisoners,  together  with  super- 
vision of  the  prisons  in  Panama,  Porto  Rico,  and 
the  Philippine  Islands.  The  Bureau  of  Labor  Statis- 
tics in  the  Department  of  Labor  publishes  informa- 
tion in  regard  to  the  labor  of  prisoners  and  the 
products  of  the  various  penal  institutions.  The 
Department  of  the  Interior  has,  with  the  Depart- 

1  U.  S.  Statutes  at  Large,  54th  Congress,  Sess.  1,  C.  420,  1896. 

2  63  Cong.,  2d  Sess.  S.  D.  #  494,  Federal  and  State  Laws  relating  to 
Convict  Labor. 


90    THE  PRISON  AND  THE  PRISONER 

ment  of  Justice,  the  responsibility  for  the  selection 
of  the  sites  and  the  erection  of  Federal  prisons.  All 
the  reports  from  the  correctional  institutions  in 
the  District  of  Columbia  are  presented  to  the  Secre- 
tary of  the  Interior.  The  Department  of  Justice 
has  full  charge  of  the  three  Federal  penitentiaries, 
in  which  some  2,034  prisoners  1  are  confined,  and  the 
1,180  Federal2  prisoners  confined  in  the  State,  county, 
and  city  prisons,  the  prisoners  from  the  territories, 
and  also  the  Bureau  of  Criminal  Identification.  The 
United  States  marshals,  under  the  Federal  courts, 
have  oversight  of  prisoners  held  for  trial,  and  lastly, 
the  Department  of  Justice  is  responsible  for  the  131 
convicts  in  the  government  hospital,3  which  hospital 
is  under  the  Department  of  the  Interior. 

The  final  authority  in  matters  pertaining  to  the 
care  and  discipline  of  the  Federal  prisoners  is  vested 
in  the  Attorney-General,  a  prosecuting  officer.  His 
success  has  lain  in  bringing  the  criminal  within  the 
pale  of  the  law,  but  has  his  experience  prepared  him 
to  apply  the  methods  which  will  promote  the  rehabili- 
tation of  the  prisoner?  To-day  is  the  day  of  the 
specialist ;  should  we  not  call  for  the  specialist  in  the 
penal  as  in  every  other  field  ? 

Furthermore,  there  is  an  increasing  demand  that 
the  methods  of  modern  business  shall  be  applied 
to  the  administration  of  government.  This  would 
point  to  the  centralization  under  one  responsible 
head  of  all  the  activities  of  a  department  to  prevent 

1  Letter  to  National  Committee  on  Prisons  and  Prison  Labor,  June 
30,  1914. 

2  June  30,  1914.  3  June  30,  1914. 


THE  CONTROL  OVER  THE  PRISONER    91 

duplication  of  effort,  waste,  and  inefficiency.  The 
National  Committee  on  Prisons  and  Prison  Labor 
has  suggested  that  this  thought  be  carried  to  the 
Federal  Prison  System;  that  a  Federal  office  of 
prisons  under  the  direction  of  a  commissioner,  an 
expert  capable  of  applying  the  best  thought  along 
penal  and  coordinate  lines,  be  established  in  Wash- 
ington with  authority  over  all  Federal  prisons  and 
prisoners  and  power  to  investigate  all  penal  institu- 
tions where  Federal  prisoners  are  confined. 

This  Federal  office  of  prisons  could  facilitate  co- 
operation between  State  agencies  dealing  with  prison 
problems  and  conduct  scientific  researches  for  the 
Federal  Government  into  the  causes  of  crime  with  a 
view  to  the  extermination  of  human  pests.  The 
Department  of  Agriculture  is  spending  millions  of 
dollars  a  year  in  exterminating  insect  pests,  yet  not 
one  penny  is  at  present  devoted  by  the  Federal  / 
Government  to  the  study  of  human  pests,  of  the  V 
forces  which  undermine  and  destroy  the  manhood 
and  womanhood  of  our  nation. 

The  centralization  of  control  would  make  possible 
the  establishment  of  a  clearing-house  system  and  the 
development  of  a  comprehensive  and  coordinate 
scheme  of  institutions,  each  equipped  to  meet  the 
needs  of  special  types  of  individuals  as  these  needs 
are  determined  by  scientific  investigation.  The  Fed- 
eral prisons  could  then  become  great  governmental 
laboratories,  the  model  for  State  institutions,  while 
the  discipline  under  which  the  lives  of  Federal  pris- 
oners are  regulated  could  standardize  prison  dis- 
cipline throughout  the  country. 


92    THE  PRISON  AND  THE  PRISONER 

In  matters  penal  we  have  passed  through  the  period 
of  indifference  and  inertia  to  the  period  of  transition 
and  uprooting  of  the  forces  which  have  hindered 
development.  We  next  must  witness  the  applica- 
tion of  sane,  constructive  measures  which  will  insure 
permanent  reform.  The  Federal  Government  must 
perforce  meet  its  full  responsibility  to  the  prisoners 
under  its  control  and  Congress  insure  its  leadership 
in  the  penal  field  by  the  establishment  at  Washington 
of  the  proposed  Federal  office  of  prisons. 

PART  II  —  STATE 

The  businesslike  administration  of  penal  institu- 
tions is  demanded  by  the  public  as  a  result  of  the 
exposure  of  the  inadequacy  of  the  methods  used  in 
these  institutions  to  meet  the  conditions  which  they 
present.  There  has  been  much  progress  in  the  ad- 
ministration of  all  institutions,  whether  penal  or 
educational,  in  the  last  decade.  The  duties  of  a 
college  president,  as  has  been  so  ably  pointed  out 
by  President  Butler  of  Columbia  University,  con- 
sisted a  hundred  years  ago  of  teaching  classes,  whip- 
ping pupils,  locking  the  building,  and  seeing  that  the 
place  was  clean ;  ,  to-day  he  plans  the  fiscal  policy 
three  years  in  advance,  and  gives  much  attention 
to  the  national  and  international  relationships  of  his 
university. 

Our  conception  of  the  duties  of  the  administrative 
head  of  a  penal  institution  is  still  on  the  former  level 
and  will  have  to  rise  to  the  latter.  The  first  requi- 
site, therefore,  to  a  reorganized  prison  administra- 
tion is  the  reshaping  of  our  views  as  to  administra- 


THE  CONTROL  OVER  THE  PRISONER    93 

live  functions  and  the  interesting  of  men  of  broad 
viewpoint  and  recognized  ability  to  undertake  the 
administration  of  penal  institutions. 

The  warden  who  wrote  "my  prison  is  just  a  factory 
and  is  only  interesting  as  such"  failed  to  recognize 
the  material  with  which  he  was  working.  Whatever 
our  attitude  toward  the  prisoner  may  be,  it  is  clear 
that  prisons  exist  to  confine  him  and  change  him  if 
possible;  only  incidentally  must  they  produce 
marketable  commodities  in  the  way  of  manufactured 
articles.  The  output  upon  which  success  or  failure 
must  rest  is  the  human  output  and  it  is  generally 
admitted  that  the  prison  on  this  basis  has  so  far  been 
a  failures 

Conditions  exist  which  must  be  recognized. 
Probably  the  most  important  is  the  fact  that  this 
human  material  has  been  selected  from  the  commu- 
nity by  the  hit  or  miss  method  of  the  discovery  of  a 
crime  and  a  man's  conviction.  Another  important 
factor  is  that  the  institution  has  to  receive  every 
person  so  selected.  In  our  more  populous  States, 
where  the  prison  population  has  been  distributed 
amongst  a  number  of  institutions,  there  is  the  possi- 
bility of  a  man's  being  placed  in  an  institution  to 
which  he  is  suited,  though  the  framers  of  the  law 
even  in  New  York  State  did  not  comprehend  nor  pro- 
vide for  such  classification.  To  take  this  human 
material  which  is  sent  to  the  institutions  and  evalu- 

EDITOR'S  NOTE  :  The  control  of  the  prison  and  the  production  and 
distribution  of  prison  commodities  are  discussed  in  "Penal  Servitude." 
This  chapter  might  well  be  read  in  connection  with  "Penal  Servi- 
tude", chapters  3,  5,  7.  — "Penal  Servitude",  E.  Stagg  Whitin. 


94    THE  PRISON  AND  THE  PRISONER 

ate  it  so  as  to  secure  from  it  and  for  it  the  best  possible 
results  is  the  first  requisite  of  business  administra- 
tion. The  reception  prison  with  a  competent  staff, 
discussed  in  a  preceding  chapter,  is  the  method 
by  which  to  accomplish  the  result. 

Next,  we  must  remember  that  the  prison  differs* 
from  an  ordinary  industrial  plant  in  that  the  prison 
workmen  are  not  selected  because  of  their  special 
qualifications  for  a  specific  job.  Their  individual 
qualifications  are  as  diversified  as  those  of  any  group 
that  could  possibly  be  brought  together.  Efficiency  v 
is  secured  by  causing  each  member  of  a  group  to 
perform  the  function  for  which  he  is  best  suited.  It 
will  immediately  become  clear  that  an  attempt  to 
force  all  the  members  of  this  group  of  people  into  one 
factory  producing  one  line  of  commodity  will  reduce 
practically  all  of  them  to  the  level  of  unskilled  artisans. 
This  has  been  the  case  when  private  prison  contrac-  N 
tors  have  leased  prison  workshops  under  contract ; 
a  man  has  been  considered  simply  as  one  more  human 
machine  to  be  worked  despite  his  interest,  former 
training,  or  ability.  The  result  is  the  deadening, 
brutalizing  work,  under  compulsion,  which  confirms 
the  antagonism  of  the  prisoner  to  the  community 
outside  the  prison  and  strengthens  his  determination 
to  return  to  a  life  of  crime  and  get  square  with  so- 
cietyA 

Now  the  prison  should  not  be  a  factory  but  a 
community.  We  should  realize  that  it  is  a  commu- 
nity, a  segment  of  society.  The  leaders  of  organized 
labor  are  right  when  they  demand  for  the  man  skilled 
in  his  trade  that  he  continue  in  that  occupation,  even 


THE  CONTROL  OVER  THE  PRISONER    95 

though  confined  within  the  prison.  Their  conten- 
tion that  he  should  not  lose  his  skill  and  fail  to  be 
acceptable  to  the  union  upon  release  because  of  that 
loss  emphasizes  the  fallacy  of  not  usin'g  his  skill  for 
the  benefit  of  the  prison  community  i  The  prison 
community  should  be  self-sustaining.  It  should 
then  provide  an  opportunity  for  the  participation  on 
the  part  of  the  man  in  every  community  activity. 
Besides  being  self-sustaining,  the  prison  can  produce 
for  the  other  State  and  county  institutions,  which 
afford  a  market  extremely  diversified.  There  is, 
therefore,  opportunity  to  meet  the  diversified  indus- 
trial needs  of  the  men. 

The  training  in  a  penal  institution  must  be  pri-  " 
marily  to  adjust  the  prisoner  to  a  normal  environ- 
ment and  to  teach  him  to  conform  to  the  needs  of 
community  life.)  The  conception  of  the  prison  as  a 
community  is  therefore  of  educational  value  as  well 
as  the  means  of  securing  the  greatest  efficiency  from 
an  administrative  viewpoint. 

The  conception  of  the  prison  as  a  lock-up  or  jail  is 
evolving  into  the  conception  of  the  prison  as  a  com- 
munity. The  conception  of  the  administrative  head 
as  a  jailer  is  evolving  into  the  conception  of  the  gov- 
ernor of  a  self-expressing  and  self-developing  com- 
munity. A  businesslike  administration  postulates 
the  highest  development  of  self-government  on  the 
part  of  the  inmates  so  that  as  many  functions  as 
possible  can  be  performed  by  them,  thus  relieving 
the  State  of  this  duty  and  expense.  The  other 
functions  which  it  is  impossible  for  the  prisoner  to 
perform,  such  functions  as  those  dealing  with  the 


96    THE  PRISON  AND  THE  PRISONER 

relation  of  the  prison  community  to  the  outside 
world,  must  be  performed  by  a  well-regulated  pur- 
chasing department.  The  goods,  supplies,  and  other 
commodities  which  may  be  sold  to  other  institutions 
must  be  under  the  control  of  a  competent  bureau 
which  will  keep  the  prison  community  supplied  with 
orders  and  be  responsible  for  delivery.  Expert 
advice  must  be  available  as  to  the  best  methods  for 
providing  work  for  the  men  not  only  in  lines  where  the 
produce  is  transferable  to  other  institutions,  but  also 
in  the  maintenance  work  of  the  community.  Should 
the  prison  possess  farm  acreage,  the  most  approved 
methods  of  scientific  farming  should  be  applied  both 
to  afford  the  best  training  to  men  who  may  continue 
as  farmers  and  to  produce  foodstuffs  for  the  inmates 
of  the  institution.  A  well-balanced  and  properly 
prepared  diet  is  essential,  and  an  efficiently  run 
institution  with  coordination  between  the  culinary 
and  farm  departments  will  give  appreciable  result 
in  the  improved  physical  condition  of  the  inmates. 

The  efficient  organization  of  farm  and  industrial 
work  will  give  opportunity  to  observe  the  varying 
contributions  made  by  members  of  the  prison  com- 
munity to  the  community.  The  profit  from  their 
work  will  become  an  asset  which  should  result  in  a 
self-adjusting  wage  scale.  The  plan  of  paying  this 
wage  in  "Token  Money"  is  based  upon  administra- 
tive needs  in  that  it  insures  the  divorcing  of  the  prison 
community  from  the  general  community,  except  in 
so  far  as  the  redemption  of  currency  in  United 
States  coinage  is  permitted  and  guided  by  the 
administrative  authorities. 


THE  CONTROL  OVER  THE  PRISONER    97 

The  development  of  a  model  administration  based 
upon  the  community  idea  will  necessitate  growth  by 
slow  stages  and  by  the  education  of  both  the  prison 
community  and  the  administrative  staff.  The  fail- 
ure most  business  men  encounter  when  attempting 
to  establish  business  administration  in  a  govern- 
mental situation  is  that  they  do  not  realize  that 
political  life  is  hedged  about  by  many  limitations 
which  are  foreign  to  general  industrial  enterprises. 
The  generation  which  has  profited  by  prison  graft 
must  pass  away  before  many  of  the  new  ideals  can  be 
attained.  What  is  needed  is  a  practical  program, 
a  determined  endeavor,  and  a  constant  appeal  to 
the  best  part  of  the  community  to  support  the  prop- 
osition. These  are  parts  of  an  adequate  prison 
administration  and  call  not  only  for  an  enlightened 
leadership,  but  a  confirmed  conviction  upon  the  part  V 
of  the  men  in  prison  and  those  going  out  of  prison, 
that  the  prison  administration  is  tending  more  and 
more  to  meet  the  test  that  the  human  material  which 
is  sent  to  the  prisons  for  reshaping  shall  come  forth 
the  better  for  the  refining  process.  As  long  as  this 
conviction  persists  it  will  stay  the  hand  of  politics 
and  corruption  and  make  possible  the  business  admin- 
istration of  the  prison. 


CHAPTER  V 
SELF-GOVERNMENT  BY  THE  PRISONER 

PART  I  —  SELF-GOVERNMENT  IN  A  STATE  PRISON 

BY  THOMAS  MOTT  OSBORNE 
Former  Warden,  Sing  Sing  Prison,  New  York 

PART  II  —  SELF-GOVERNMENT  IN  A  REFORMATORY 

BY  E.  KENT  HUBBABD 
Treasurer,  Connecticut  State  Reformatory 


CHAPTER  V 

V 
SELF-GOVERNMENT  BY  THE  PRISONER 

PART  I 

IN  June,  1913,  the  Governor  of  the  State  of  New 
York  appointed  a  Commission  on  Prison  Reform  for 
the  purpose  of  studying  the  different  State  institu- 
tions and  suggesting  desirable  changes  in  what 
every  one  agreed  was  a  mournful  and  unmitigated 
failure  —  the  prison  system.  The  Commission  was 
organized  with  Thomas  Mott  Osborne,  former 
Mayor  of  Auburn  and  former  Public  Service  Com- 
missioner, as  Chairman ;  Professor  George  W. 
Kirchwey,  Dean  of  the  Columbia  University  Law 
School,  as  Vice-Chairman ;  and  Doctor  E.  Stagg 
Whitin,  of  the  National  Committee  on  Prisons  and 
Prison  Labor,  as  Secretary. 

In  the  fall  of  the  year  (1913),  the  chairman  spent 
a  week  as  a  voluntary  prisoner  in  Auburn,  to  study 
at  close  quarters  the  system  and  methods  then  exist- 
ing in  the  prisons  and  their  effect  upon  the  inmates. 
The  most  important  result  of  the  experience  was  the 
growth  of  a  new  feeling  of  confidence  toward  the 
Commission  on  the  part  of  the  prisoners  leading  to 
a  desire  on  their  part  to  cooperate  in  a  new  effort 
to  reform  the  prison  system. 

101 


102    THE  PRISON  AND  THE  PRISONER 


ORGANIZATION.  In  response  to  a  request  from  the 
inmates  of  Auburn  Prison,  Warden  Rattigan,  with 
the  approval  of  the  Superintendent  of  Prisons  — 
himself  a  member  of  the  Commission  on  Prison  Re- 
form —  permitted  the  formation  of  a  good  conduct 
league,  to  be  officered  and  managed  by  the  inmates. 
On  December  26,  1913,  a  committee  on  organization 
was  elected  by  the  prisoners ;  in  January  an  organi- 
zation was  perfected,  and  on  Lincoln's  birthday, 
February  12,  1914,  the  first  meeting  of  the  Mutual 
Welfare  League  was  held  at  Auburn.  A  year  later 
the  League  was  extended  to  Sing  Sing  Prison. 

No  one  knew  what  the  League  could  do  —  its 
activities  were  absolutely  in  the  hands  of  the  prison 
authorities.  It  has  never  asked  nor  claimed  the  right 
to  act  except  under  the  consent  and  close  super- 
vision of  the  warden,  and  subject  to  his  proper 
authority.  The  organization  of  the  League  is  simple. 
Each  company  at  Sing  Sing  Prison  —  each  industrial 
or  maintenance  unit  —  elects  one  or  more  represent- 
atives to  be  the  governing  body  of  the  League, 
the  Board  of  Delegates.  These  elections  must  be 
free,  without  pressure  or  dictation  from  the  authori- 
ties, else  the  men  would  lose  faith  in  their  represent- 
atives. The  Board  of  Delegates,  fifty-five  in  num- 
ber (forty-nine  in  Auburn)  elects  a  secretary  of  the 
League,  and  from  its  own  number  an  executive  com- 
mittee of  nine.  The  Executive  Committee  appoints 
as  many  assistants  as  it  may  deem  necessary  to  keep 
good  order  and  discipline  in  the  prison. 

Each  member  of  the  Executive  Board  is  a  member 
of  one  of  the  nine  subcommittees;  Membership, 


SELF-GOVERNMENT  BY  PRISONER    103 

Industries,  Hygiene,  Education,  Athletics,  Enter- 
tainment, Music,  Visitors,  and  Outside  Employ- 
ment. 

Every  afternoon  when  there  are  any  cases,  court 
is  held  and  all  matters  involving  infraction  of  the 
rules  of  the  prison  or  of  the  League  or  any  violation 
of  good  order  and  discipline  are  brought  before  the 
judiciary  board.  The  members  preside  in  turn  and  a 
majority  decides.  The  procedure  is  very  simple  and 
punishment  consists  of  suspension  from  the  League, 
with  a  consequent  loss  of  all  privileges.  An  appeal 
can  be  made  in  any  case  by  any  party  to  the  warden's 
court,  where  the  warden,  the  principal  keeper,  and 
the  doctor  hear  and  determine  all  matters  brought 
before  them  from  the  inmates'  court. 

PRIVILEGES.  The  privileges  granted  to  the  League 
at  Sing  Sing  have  been  numerous,  the  fundamental 
one  of  self-government  within  practical  bounds  being 
the  most  important.  Elections  of  delegates  are  held 
every  four  months ;  and  the  prisoners  are  expected 
to  vote  without  dictation  or  direction  of  the  prison 
authorities,  except  that  all  arrangements  are  at  all 
times  subject  to  the  convenience  of  the  prison  man- 
agement. 

The  discipline  of  the  prison  is  now  largely  in  the 
hands  of  the  League.  The  guards  in  the  mess-hall, 
the  workshops,  the  school,  and  chapel  have  been 
withdrawn.  But  while  it  has  been  found  unnecessary 
to  keep  so  many  idle  officers  inside  the  prison,  the 
guards  on  the  walls  have  been  increased. 

The  ridiculous  and  futile  system  of  silence  has  been 
abolished.  Conversation  between  inmates  is  allowed 


104    THE  PRISON  AND  THE  PRISONER 

except  under  such  natural  restrictions  as  would  exist 
in  any  well-regulated  factory. 

After  work  hours  there  is  a  period  of  relaxation, 
during  which,  within  proper  limits,  the  men  are  free. 
Baseball  and  the  swimming  pool  are  the  favorite 
recreations  in  the  summer,  and  walking  in  the  winter. 

After  supper  the  afternoon  count  is  taken  in  the 
cells,  after  which  the  educational  classes  and  evening 
lectures  and  entertainments  take  place.  All  mem- 
bers of  the  League  in  good  standing  may  attend. 

AIMS.  Such  are  the  simple  methods  of  the  League. 
As  will  be  seen,  the  particular  details  are  compara- 
tively unimportant.  What  is  of  vital  consequence 
is  the  self-government.  Human  society  rests  upon 
the  ability  of  the  great  majority  of  mankind  to  gov- 
ern themselves.  Men  whose  comings  and  goings 
have  to  be  regulated  constantly  from  outside  them- 
selves, who  have  no  well-developed  power  of  choice 
between  good  and  evil,  are  properly  sent  to  prison 
because  they  are  unable  to  get  along  in  a  world  which 
is  too  free  for  them  to  act  wisely  in. 

The  old  prison  system  endeavors,  by  harsh  and  v 
brutal  treatment,  to  make  such  men  respect  author- 
ity and  reform  their  ways,  by  becoming  obedient 
automatons,  moving  only  according  to  the  will  of  an 
authority  outside  themselves.  The  result  was  and 
always  will  be  failure ;  for  when  the  man  leaves 
prison  he  will  again  be  free ;  there  will  be  no  author- 
ity outside  himself  to  direct  his  ways,  except  once 
more  the  police  and  the  courts. 

The  so-called  "honor  system"  endeavors,  by 
sentimental,  kindly  treatment,  to  make  such  men 


SELF-GOVERNMENT  BY  PRISONER    105 

respect  authority  and  reform  their  ways,  by  becom- 
ing obedient  automatons,  moving  only  according 
to  the  will  of  an  authority  outside  themselves.  The 
result  is,  and  always  will  be,  failure ;  for  when  a  man 
leaves  prison  he  will  again  be  free ;  there  will  be  no 
authority  outside  himself  to  direct  his  ways,  except 
once  more,  the  police  and  the  courts. 

In  other  words  the  "honor  system"  results,  as  the 
old  brutal  system  results,  in  men  who  have  not  been 
exercised  in  initiative,  self-control,  power  to  resist 
temptation;  and  unless  these  men  have  been  so 
exercised,  they  are  not  fit  to  return  to  the  world. 

The  sole  aim  of  the  Mutual  Welfare  League  is  to 
prepare  men  for  real  life  in  the  free  society  of  the 
world  outside.  That  is  all.  It  does  not  advocate 
privileges  —  unless  the  privileges  can  be  used  to 
develop  a  sense  of  responsibility.  It  does  not  care 
for  entertainments  unless  they  can  be  used  as  a 
means  to  an  end  and  that  end  self -discipline.  It 
does  not  seek  luxuries  of  any  kind;  it  cannot  be 
bribed  by  a  promise  of  mere  comforts  for  the  body ; 
for  it  knows  that  unless  the  conscience  be  quickened 
there  is  no  such  thing  as  ultimate  freedom. 

Over  against  the  brutality  of  the  old  system  and  the 
sentimentality  of  the  "honor  system"  and  the  moral, 
mental,  and  physical  pauperizing  involved  in  both, 
the  Mutual  Welfare  League  sets  the  "square  deal" 
which  throws  each  upon  his  own  resources  and 
upon  his  own  responsibility  and  holds  him  strictly 
to  it. 

It  does  not  coddle  the  prisoner,  but  asks  genuine, 
human  sympathy  for  him. 


106    THE  PRISON  AND  THE  PRISONER 

It  does  not  gush  over  him,  but  tells  him  to  be  a 
man  and  to  fight  his  own  battles. 

It  does  not  crush  his  spirit,  but  encourages  his 
loyalty  to  his  pals  and  to  the  community. 

It  does  not  brutalize  him;  it  provides  means  of 
training  and  education  so  that  he  may  make  of  him- 
self an  efficient  and  honest  worker. 

It  does  not  wish  to  produce  good  prisoners,  it  aims 
to  train  good  citizens.} 

PART  II 

THE  State  of  Connecticut,  some  seven  years  ago, 
appropriated  nearly  half  a  million  dollars  for  a  mod- 
ern reformatory.  It  was  planned  that  this  reforma- 
tory should  house  six  hundred  and  should  make  it 
possible  to  separate  men  and  boys  between  the  ages 
of  eighteen  and  twenty-five,  who  were  convicted  for 
the  first  time,  from  confinement  in  company  with 
men  who  had  been  imprisoned  before  and  might  be 
considered  real  criminals. 

It  is  interesting  to  note  that  since  its  creation  the 
Board  of  Directors  —  five  representative  men  of 
Connecticut,  chosen  to  guide  the  destinies  of  this 
reformatory  —  has  been  kept  intact ;  these  men, 
with  no  political  affiliations  whatever  nor  financial 
recompense,  have  given  their  personal  services  not 
only  to  the  selection  of  the  location  and  supervision 
of  the  erection  of  the  building,  but  also  to  the 
development  and  policy  of  the  reformatory.  The 
work  has  been  of  absorbing  and  increasing  interest. 
The  Board  has  been  united  in  the  high  ambition  for 
efficiency,  honesty,  and  nobler  ideals,  and  was  fortu- 


SELF-GOVERNMENT  BY  PRISONER    107 

nate  in  having  had  associated  with  it  in  the  organiza- 
tion of  the  work  one  of  the  ablest  superintendents  in 
this  country,  and  one  of  the  foremost  men  in  penal 
work  —  Mr.  Albert  Garvin^ 

The  old  methods  of  government  were  in  vogue 
during  the  first  year  of  the  existence  of  the  reforma- 
tory which  opened  its  doors  in  July,  1913.  At  the 
end  of  this  time  the  new  method  of  self-government, 
as  originated  and  installed  in  Auburn  Prison  by  the 
Honorable  Thomas  Mott  Osborne,  began  to  inter- 
est the  Directors  of  the  Connecticut  Reformatory. 
One  of  the  Directors  was  a  friend  of  Mr^Osborne's, 
and  with  others  of  the  Board  went  to  Auburn  at 
Mr.  Osborne's  request  to  study  the  working-out 
of  the  self-government  theory  through  the  so-called 
Mutual  Welfare  League.  This  League  had  been  in 
operation  about  six  months,  but  the  results  which 
had  been  accomplished,  not  only  in  increased  effi- 
ciency in  the  work  in  the  prison  shops,  but  also  in  the 
morale  of  the  men,  and  the  astonishing  cooperation 
which  the  warden  received,  had  begun  to  be  noticed 
by  the  public  at  large.  It  was  decided  to  try  for 
the  boys  at  Cheshire  some  of  the  self-government 
ideas. 

There  was  reasonable  doubt  in  the  minds  of  the 
Board,  and  of  the  superintendent,  as  to  the  capabil- 
ity of  boys  of  this  age  to  organize  and  manage  intel- 
ligently a  system  such  as  that  of  the  Mutual  Welfare 
League  at  Auburn.  However,  after  the  boys  had 
been  called  together  and  had  been  told  how  the 
League  was  operated  and  some  of  the  privileges 
granted,  also  the  results  accomplished  at  Auburn, 


108    THE  PRISON  AND  THE  PRISONER 

they  became  most  anxious  for  an  opportunity  to 
put  into  effect  a  similar  plan.  Delegates  were  elected 
from  the  different  departments  of  the  reformatory 
and  they  in  turn  elected  their  officers. 

The  first  meeting  of  the  Board  of  Control,  so-called, 
of  the  Cheshire  Branch  of  the  Mutual  Welfare 
League,  was  a  memorable  one  to  the  Directors  of  the 
reformatory.  The  boys,  although  imperfectly  organ-  V 
ized,  saw  that  by  their  efforts  and  by  their  good  be- 
havior they  could  ask  and  obtain  certain  privileges, 
never  dreamed  of  under  the  old  form  of  prison  dis- 
cipline^ The  two  most  important  factors  in  a  League 
of  this  kind  are :  first,  the  ability  of  the  inmates  to 
manage  themselves  without  the  constant  supervision 
of  the  officers  in  charge  of  the  prison ;  and,  second, 
the  privileges,  the  request  for  which  must  originate 
with  the  inmates,  who  must  show  themselves  equal 
to  the  increased  responsibility  imposed  when  such 
privileges  are  conferred. 

The  Constitution  and  By-Laws  of  the  Auburn 
League  were  taken  over  by  the  Cheshire  Branch  as  a 
guide.  These  were  rewritten  to  meet  the  require- 
ments of  Cheshire,  and  at  once  the  boys  were  fired 
by  an  enthusiasm  to  raise  the  standards  in  all  depart- 
ments of  the  institution.  Previous  to  this,  for 
example,  on  Sunday  afternoons  the  boys  were  locked 
in  their  cells,  as  they  are  to-day  in  most  prisons. 
The  superintendent  of  the  reformatory  at  Cheshire 
granted  the  boys  the  freedom  of  the  cell  house  for 
some  three  hours  on  Sunday  afternoon,  during  which 
time  the  conduct  of  the  inmates  was  guarded  by  the 
officers  and  delegates  of  the  League,  only  one  repre- 


SELF-GOVERNMENT  BY  PRISONER    109 

sentative  of  the  reformatory  staff  being  on  hand,  in 
case  of  disturbance.  The  privilege  not  only  of  walk- 
ing around  and  visiting  with  one  another  but  also  of 
securing  suitable  books  to  read,  and  writing  letters, 
means  much  to  the  boys,  especially  as  Sunday  had 
previously  been  a  day  to  be  dreaded. 

The  next  privilege  was  marching  to  meals  with 
music  under  the  care  of  their  own  officers.  Saturday 
afternoon  sports  and  Sunday  morning  recreation  after 
religious  services  were  then  granted  under  the  same 
jurisdiction,  while  the  request  for  certain  entertain- 
ments followed. 

Bad  language  and  petty  brawls  which  naturally 
are  to  be  expected  were  reduced  to  a  minimum. 
In  addition,  the  Directors  of  the  reformatory  found 
that  all  dope  as  well  as  liquor  was  kept  out  of  the 
reformatory.  The  delegates  were  interested  in  carry- 
ing out  the  wishes  of  the  several  departments  they 
represented,  but  as  might  be  expected  among  men 
and  boys  of  this  age,  politics  have  from  time  to  time 
interfered  with  the  best  success  of  the  League.  The 
elections  to  the  Board  of  Control  have  been  hotly 
contested,  and  on  account  of  parole  and  the  changing 
population,  new  officers  are  elected  oftener  than  is 
desirable. 

The  parole  of  the  boys  is  placed  in  the  hands  of  the 
Directors  of  the  reformatory,  and  the  Board  of 
Parole  receives  at  its  monthly  meeting  recommen- 
dations from  the  Mutual  Welfare  League  as  to  the 
behavior  and  the  standing  of  those  boys  who  are 
eligible  for  parole,  and  also  suggestions  as  to  restora- 
tion of  time  for  good  conduct.  The  results  obtained 


110    THE  PRISON  AND  THE  PRISONER 

are  remarkable  :  the  boys  feel  that  they  have  oppor- 
tunity to  be  heard  by  the  Board  of  Directors,  and 
the  Board  of  Parole,  and  that  their  truthful  represen- 
tation of  conditions  is  conscientiously  considered. 

It  must  be  understood  that  in  the  organization  of 
such  a  government  it  is  not  possible  simply  to  decide 
on  this  form  of  government  without  the  personal 
touch  of  those  in  charge  of  the  institution.  The 
many  questions  which  naturally  arise  in  such  a 
movement  must  have  not  only  the  careful  judgment 
of  those  responsible  for  control  of  the  institution  but 
also  the  touch  of  sympathy  and  interest.  The  men 
and  boys  are  human,  and  nothing  appeals  to  them  as 
does  the  assurance  that  those  who  are  watching  their 
conduct  have  a  friendly  interest  in  them. 

There  are  many  questions  which  this  form  of 
government  brings  up,  for  example,  the  tobacco 
question.  It  had  been  decided  that  smoking  should 
not  be  permitted  in  the  reformatory,  and  much  dis- 
turbance came  from  the  boys  smoking  despite  this 
rule.  The  amount  of  tobacco  that  was  brought  into 
the  institution  was  astounding,  the  boys  securing 
it  in  the  most  unexpected  ways.  In  the  spring  of 
1915,  through  the  efforts  of  one  of  the  Directors,  the 
Highway  Commissioner,  with  the  consent  of  the 
Governor  of  the  State,  accepted  boys  for  road  work. 
These  boys  were  paid  fifty  cents  per  day,  and  the 
money  that  they  made  was  either  sent  to  their 
families  at  their  request  or  kept  as  a  credit  until  they 
should  be  discharged.  Men  working  on  the  high- 
way, on  motors,  trolley  cars,  and  the  public  in  general 
felt  that  they  were  rendering  a  kindness  to  the  boys 


SELF-GOVERNMENT  BY  PRISONER    111 

by  throwing  them  tobacco.  This  the  boys  naturally 
accepted,  and  when  they  thought  they  were  not 
observed,  would,  as  they  express  it,  "Hike  a  smoke." 
When  caught  they  would  plead  to  be  allowed  to 
smoke.  The  question  has  greatly  interested  the 
Directors,  for,  on  one  hand,  it  is  argued  that  most 
boys  who  have  been  sent  to  the  institution  have  been 
smokers  and  will  smoke  no  matter  what  rules  are 
made;  and,  on  the  other  hand,  it  is  argued  that 
boys  who  have  not  smoked  should  not  be  taught  to 
do  so  at  the  reformatory.  However,  it  is  probable 
that  the  Mutual  Welfare  League  will  petition  the 
Directors  to  grant  the  boys  the  privilege  of  smoking 
at  certain  periods  of  the  day,  and  at  other  times 
severe  penalty  will  be  meted  out  to  those  who 
infringe  the  rules. 

The  League  requested  that  in  the  dining  room  the 
boys  be  allowed  to  talk.  This  was  granted,  and  in 
addition,  men  who  had  reached  the  honor  grade 
were  allowed  to  dine  at  their  own  tables,  with  table- 
cloths, etc.,  and  the  pride  which  they  take  in  being 
treated  as'gentlemen  is  remarkable.  At  these  tables 
the  boys  have  certain  delicacies,  such  as  extra  sugar 
and  pickles,  which  the  other  boys  do  not  have. 
During  the  meal  they  are  officered  by  their  own 
officers,  with  only  one  of  the  guards  in  attendance, 
to  be  present  in  case  of  disturbance.  The  most  inter- 
esting current  topics  are  posted  on  the  bulletin  boards 
so  that  the  boys  while  at  their  meals  may  have  in 
their  minds  something  worth  talking  about. 

The  relieved  anxiety  of  the  guards  as  to  disturb- 
ance is  a  marked  aspect  of  the  self-government 


THE  PRISON  AND  THE  PRISONER 

system.  In  other  words,  the  officers  in  case  of  trouble 
know  to  which  of  the  inmates  to  turn  —  in  fact,  most 
disturbances  are  taken  care  of  by  the  inmates  without 
attention  from  the  officers. 

There  are  three  grades  in  the  reformatory :  first, 
second,  and  third.  The  boys  are  received  in  the 
second  grade,  and  according  to  their  behavior  are 
advanced  to  the  first  grade,  or  if  disobedient  to  the 
rules  of  the  institution  they  are  reduced  to  the  third 
grade.  The  Mutual  Welfare  League  assumes  no 
responsibility  over  the  third-grade  boys,  who  are 
taken  care  of  by  the  prison  authorities,  but  the 
League  does  recommend  that  certain  boys  be  re- 
stored to  the  second  grade  from  the  third. 

The  Inmates'  Court,  in  which  all  infringements  of 
rules  are  tried,  is  one  of  the  most  important  features 
of  the  self-government  system,  for  none  of  us  will 
deny  that  the  men  who  are  confined  in  prison  have  a 
better  knowledge  of  each  other  than  any  one  else  has, 
and  if  through  their  own  officers  they  can  settle, 
punish,  or  adjust  any  infractions  of  rules,  the  feeling 
of  revenge  is  not  so  manifest  as  it  would  be  if  this 
punishment  were  given  by  State  officers. 

Self-government  must  be  developed  little  by  little 
from  the  bottom  up,  not  from  the  authorities  in  power 
down  to  the  prisoners.  Each  institution,  as  far  as  it 
is  possible,  should  present  to  its  inmates  the  oppor- 
tunity to  suggest  and  the  opportunity  to  form  an 
organization  —  which  may  be  directed  when  neces- 
sary by  the  officials  —  so  that  the  inmates  may  feel 
that  they  have  a  real  part  in  the  work  of  manage- 
ment, and  that  they,  through  their  own  officers,  are 


SELF-GOVERNMENT  BY  PRISONER    113 

responsible  for  the  work  and  conduct  of  the  men  or 
boys. 

In  the  self-government  plan  as  much  liberty  is  ^ 
given  as  the  men  are  capable  of  handling.  As  with 
a  child  who  is  allowed  to  walk  as  its  strength  develops, 
so  with  the  self-government  of  prisoners;  they  are 
made  to  feel  that  as  fast  as  they  are  capable  of  carry- 
ing out  certain  plans  they  are  welcomed  by  the  officers 
and  other  opportunities  given.  Instead  of  the 
sullen,  hangdog  look  we  find  under  the  old  prison 
system,  we  see  to-day  a  bright,  hopeful  expression 
on  the  faces  of  the  prisoners,  and  a  belief  in  the  future 
that  they  will  be  an  important  factor  in  the  com- 
munity to  which  they  will  return. 

Those  who  from  the  outside  have  regarded  the 
prison  or  reformatory  as  a  place  to  be  dreaded  or 
shunned,  cannot  fail  to  be  impressed  by  the  atmos- 
phere which  can  be  observed  in  institutions  where 
this  self-government  is  in  vogue.  They  should  com- 
pare this  system  with  the  system  of  handling  the  so- 
called  criminal  classes  to  be  found  in  most  States 
to-day. 

It  is  only  a  question  of  time  until  the  old  prison  v« 
methods  are  entirely  obliterated.  In  fact  those  who 
have  studied  prison  conditions  in  this  country  are 
amazed  at  the  thought  that  they  have  been  allowed 
to  continue  at  all  in  this  present  day  of  enlighten- 
ment, j 

It  is  true  that  there  are  men  confined  in  our  penal 
institutions  who  are  unworthy  of  effort  to  restore 
them  to  society,  but  the  great  majority  of  men  are  in  v 
prison  through  misfortune,  or  hereditary  conditions, 


114    THE  PRISON  AND  THE  PRISONER 

or  on  account  of  crimes  committed  under  the  in- 
fluence of  drink,  and  these  men  are  willing  and  glad 
to  grasp  the  opportunity  to  show  that  they  welcome 
and  desire  some  kind  of  a  chance  to  make  good,  and 
to  be  able  to  return  and  take  their  place  in  society. 

It  is  not  necessary,  in  establishing  self-government,  J 
to  surrender,  as  many  people  ridiculously  suppose, 
the  management  of  the  prison  to  the  prisoners; 
it  merely  means  that  in  the  government  of  the  prison 
the  men  or  boys  have  a  part  which  they  play  in 
establishing  not  only  good  order,  but  also  efficiency 
in  the  work  that  they  perform,.  No  manufacturer 
who  has  not  the  active  cooperation  and  support 
of  the  people  whom  he  employs  gets  the  maximum 
amount  of  production,  and  how  can  any  one  suppose 
that  a  prison,  which  must  be  made  to  pay  its  own 
expenses  as  far  as  possible,  can  get  good  results 
without  the  cooperation  of  the  inmates  ? 

In  closing,  I  must  beg  those  who  may  read  this 
chapter  to  do  one  thing,  and  that  is  not  to  put  the 
self-government  idea  aside  without  a  personal  inves- 
tigation of  conditions  in  one  of  the  institutions  where 
it  exists.  They  will  be  convinced,  I  feel  sure,  in 
spite  of  the  many  improvements  still  needed  and  the 
errors  still  existing,  that  when  compared  with  the  old 
system,  the  new  method  of  handling  men  in  prison 
has  so  much  in  its  favor  that  it  must  be  everywhere 
adopted.1 

1  Editor's  Note.  —  This  article  was  written  in  1915,  and  describes 
conditions  at  the  Cheshire  Reformatory  at  that  time. 


CHAPTER    VI 
THE  PRISON  OFFICER 

BY  FREDERICK  A.  DORNER 
Former  Principal  Keeper,  Sing  Sing  Prison,  New  York 


CHAPTER  VI 

THE  PRISON  OFFICER 
ll 

TWENTY  years  of  prison  service  under  the  old 
system  and  two  years  under  the  new  have  convinced 
the  writer  that  the  new  prison  system  is  as  beneficial 
to  the  officers  as  to  the  men,  that  it  is  based  on 
sound  common  sense  and  will  grow  stronger  and 
stronger  as  officers  and  men  realize  more  fully  their 
opportunity  under  it? "  The  soundness  of  these  con- 
clusions will  be  admitted  by  one  familiar  with  the 
daily  life  and  duties  of  the  prison  officer  under  the 
old  system  and  under  the  new,  which  is  my  excuse 
for  the  following  rather  detailed  account. 

The  prison  officer  receives  no  special  training  be- 
fore entering  upon  his  duties.  He  is  appointed  after 
civil  service  examination  in  which  emphasis  is  placed 
on  his  height,  age,  and  physical  condition  generally 
and  upon  "  great  personal  courage,  a  kindly  but  firm 
disposition,  sound  judgment  and  discretion,  inclina- 
tion to  carry  out  the  orders  of  a  superior  faithfully, 
and  a  personality  and  temperament  calculated  to 
command  respect  and  obedience  of  persons  in  their 
custody."  1 

1  State  of  New  York,  The  Civil  Service  Commission,  "Manual  of 
Examination  for  Prison  and  Reformatory  Guard." 

117 


118,   THE  PRISON  AND  THE  PRISONER 

The  possession  of  these  characteristics,  well  enough 
in  their  way,  can  never  take  the  place  of  that  special- 
ized training  received  by  the  teacher,  the  physician, 
or  lawyer.  The  prison  officer  enters  upon  his  duties 
ignorant  of  how  to  meet  the  problems  which  hourly 
present  themselves ;  too  often  he  covers  his  ignorance 
by  roughness,  which  in  addition  to  the  deadly  monot- 
ony of  his  daily  duties  leaves  him,  at  the  end  of  a 
few  years,  a  "bully"  or  at  best  a  machine  with  little 
human  sympathy  or  understanding. 

At  Sing  Sing  Prison,  New  York,  the  day  began 
for  the  officer  under  the  old  system  when  he  un- 
locked his  one  gallery,  counted  his  men,  and,  as  the 
turn  for  his  squad  came,  took  them  to  the  shop  to 
wash  up  and  on  to  the  mess-hall  to  breakfast,  the 
men  being  under  his  eye  at  all  times  and  not  allowed  - 
to  speak  while  at  their  meal. 

The  officer  simply  could  not  be  on  friendly  terms 
with  the  inmates,  and  was  taught  to  believe  that  after 
a  man  came  into  State  prison  he  didn't  own  the 
hair  on  his  head.  If  an  inmate  spoke  to  an  officer, 
the  latter  would  yell  at  him  loud  enough  to  deafen 
him.  If  an  officer  had  any  friendly  feeling  and  made 
any  display  of  it,  he  was  criticized  by  the  other 
officers  and  called  soft  and  unfit  to  do  his  duty  by 
the  institution. 

After  breakfast  the  squad  was  marched  to  the  shop 
at  once,  and  work  began  under  the  strictest  discipline 
until  eleven-thirty,  when  machines  were  stopped 
and  the  men  were  allowed  to  wash  up  for  dinner. 
The  officer  couldn't  talk  to  the  men,  except  to  direct 
their  work,  other  matters  being  referred  to  the 


THE  PRISON  OFFICER  119 

authorities.  The  men  were  taken  to  dinner  still 
under  the  strictest  discipline  and  immediately  after 
dinner  back  to  the  shop. 

At  twelve-thirty  work  started  again  and  continued 
till  four.  At  four-thirty  the  men  were  brought  to 
their  cells  and  as  they  went  in  each  man  took  some 
bread,  under  the  eye  of  the  officer  who  saw  that  he 
didn't  take  more  than  was  necessary.  Tea  was  put 
in  their  cells  in  tin  cups  at  four-thirty  and  as  all  the 
men  were  not  in  their  cells  till  five  the  tea  was  cold 
and  unfit  to  drink,  a  constant  source  of  irritation. 
The  men  had  for  supper  nothing  but  tea  and  a  few  „ 
slices  of  bread  unless  they  bought  groceries  or  food  — 
boxes  from  outside  being  allowed  once  in  two  months. 
They  were  in  their  cells  by  five,  and  at  five-fifteen 
the  prison  closed,  leaving  the  men  locked  up  until 
six-forty-five  the  next  morning. 

On  Sunday  morning  the  men  were  brought  out  at 
six-forty-five  and  taken  to  the  mess-hall  for  break- 
fast and  from  there  to  the  chapel,  to  the  Protestant 
or  Catholic  service.  All  were  required  to  attend  one 
service  or  the  other,  tea  being  served  to  them  before 
service.  The  services  were  over  by  nine-forty-five 
when  the  men  were  given  a  pan  of  rice  or  prunes  and  a 
slice  of  bread :  that  was  supposed  to  do  for  dinner 
and  supper  and  until  the  next  morning.  They  were 
kept  in  their  cells  all  day  Sunday  until  six-forty-five 
Monday  morning.  You  can  imagine  the  state  of 
the  men  on  Monday  morning  after  having  been 
locked  in  their  cells  for  nearly  twenty-four  hours. 
They  were  cross,  irritable,  and  hard  to  manage  on 
Monday :  much  more  so  when  there  was  a  holiday 


120    THE  PRISON  AND  THE  PRISONER 

on  Saturday,  as  then  the  length  of  time  in  their  cells 
was  doubled. 

We  had  considerable  trouble  with  "dope"  which 
reached  the  prison  through  different  channels. 
Some  of  the  men  were  constantly  under  the  influence 
of  a  drug.  Even  when  kept  in  confinement  in  their 
cells  and  only  taken  out  once  a  week  for  a  bath, 
they  found  some  way  to  obtain  "dope." 

A  large  number  of  men  were  constantly  locked  in 
the  lower  cells  for  punishment,  sometimes  for  thirty 
days  or  even  longer,  without  exercise,  meals  being 
served  to  them  in  their  cells.  There  was  a  constant 
fight  with  these  men  from  morning  till  night  to  try 
to  keep  them  under  control.  After  being  locked  up 
for  thirty  days  they  were  interviewed  by  the  officials, 
and  if  it  was  considered  wise  were  again  returned 
to  their  cells ;  otherwise  they  were  sent  back  to  work 
in  the  shops  and  if  their  work  was  not  well  done  they 
went  to  the  cells  for  a  longer  period. 

The  officer  was  just  a  mere  machine  under  the  old 
system,  and  if  he  had  any  kindly  feeling  in  his  heart 
he  was  subject  to  discipline  by  the  prison  authorities. 

Under  the  new  prison  system  the  men  are  counted 
in  the  morning  at  six-thirty.  Immediately  after  the 
count  the  officers  unlock  the  doors  and  turn  the  men 
over  to  the  officers  of  the  Mutual  Welfare  League 
who  take  them  to  the  shops  to  wash  up  for  breakfast. 
After  breakfast  they  have  ten  minutes'  recreation 
to  smoke  in  the  yards  before  going  to  the  shops  to 
begin  their  day's  work.!  Officers  of  the  Mutual 
Welfare  League  are  in  charge  during  working  hours 
except  in  a  few  shops  where  it  is  absolutely  necessary 


THE  PRISON  OFFICER 

to  have  an  officer  give  out  material  or  keep  account 
of  the  goods  and  in  the  storehouse  and  shipping 
departments. 

At  no  time  does  an  officer  march  with  the  men; 
wherever  they  wish  to  go  they  are  in  charge  of  a  Mu- 
tual Welfare  League  Officer.  There,  is  no  restriction 
on  their  speech  other  than  would  be  imposed  in  an 
ordinary  factory.) 

After  dinner  the  men  again  have  ten  minutes  in 
which  to  smoke,  then  the  whistle  blows  and  they 
return  to  the  shops  and  work  until  four  o'clock. 
The  whistle  sounds  again  and  the  men  go  to  the 
yard  for  recreation  until  five.  At  five  the  whistle 
sounds  again  and  they  go  to  the  shops  and  form  in 
companies  to  march  to  the  mess-hall  for  supper. 
After  supper  they  go  to  their  cells  for  the  count  which 
takes  from  fifteen  to  twenty  minutes.  Then  the 
men  who  are  members  of  the  several  classes  are  let 
out  and  go  to  their  classrooms.  At  eight  o'clock 
all  the  men  who  desire  may  go  to  the  chapel  to  a 
lecture,  concert  or  moving-picture  show,  which 
generally  lasts  until  about  ten  o'clock.  Then  they 
go  to  their  cells  for  the  night  and  the  prison  closes 
about  ten-thirty. 

Saturday  afternoon  is  a  half-holiday,  the  prison 
ball  team  often  playing  a  visiting  team.  All  kinds 
of  sports  are  enjoyed,  especially  swimming  in  "the 
pool"  where  two  hundred  can  swim  at  one  time. 
They  are  allowed  one  hour  in  the  pool  so  all  may 
have  a  chance  to  bathe  once  during  the  afternoon 
and  again  on  Sunday  afternoon. 

On  Sunday  morning  the  men  turn  out  at  six-thirty 


THE  PRISON  AND  THE  PRISONER 

and  march  to  the  mess-hall  for  breakfast  which  lasts 
until  about  eight  o'clock.  All  who  wish  to  attend 
the  Catholic  service  go  directly  to  the  chapel,  the 
Catholic  service  being  the  first  for  the  day  and  usu- 
ally lasting  about  an  hour.  The  rest  of  the  men  may 
go  to  the  yard  during  the  time  of  service. 

At  eight-forty-five  the  bugle  is  sounded  and  those 
who  wish  to  attend  the  Protestant  service  fall  in  line, 
under  an  officer  of  the  Mutual  Welfare  League,  and 
march  to  the  chapel  where  the  service  begins 
promptly  at  nine.  The  third  service  for  the  day  is 
the  Christian  Science.  The  men  are  free  to  attend 
any  one  of  these  services  but  are  not  compelled  to  do 
so  unless  they  desire. 

At  the  sound  of  the  bugle  at  twelve  the  men  fall  in 
line,  not,  as  on  week  days,  from  the  shops,  but  from 
their  respective  galleries.  They  are  marched  under 
Mutual  Welfare  League  officers  to  the  mess-hall  and 
as  on  week  days  after  dinner  they  go  to  the  yard 
for  sports  until  five  o'clock.  At  five  o'clock  the 
bugle  sounds,  and  they  fall  in  line  for  supper.  At 
about  seven  o'clock  the  classes  begin  and  are  gener- 
ally followed  by  some  entertainment  in  the  chapel 
which  lasts  until  ten  o'clock. 

The  men  return  to  their  work  on  Monday  morning 
in  a  pleasant  frame  of  mind  and  jump  at  their  work 
with  a  will  —  not  with  a  grouch  or  in  fault-finding 
mood  as  under  the  old  system. 

It  must  be  understood  that  during  the  hours  in  the 
dining  room  not  one  officer  is  present,  except  of  course 
the  chef,  the  men  being  entirely  in  charge  of  officers 
of  the  League. 


THE  PRISON  OFFICER 

M 

Under  the  new  system  the  prison  officers  work  only 
eight  hours,  instead  of  working  from  twelve  to  four- 
teen hours  as  they  formerly  did.  They  are  divided 
into  three  shifts  instead  of  two,  and  their  chief  duty 
is  to  see  that  no  man  goes  beyond  the  boundaries  of 
the  prison.  The  officers  who  were  formerly  armed 
have  voluntarily  discarded  even  their  clubs  and  are 
on  very  friendly  terms  with  the  men.  Often  now  in 
cases  of  sickness  or  trouble  the  officers  take  personal 
charge  and  see  that  their  prisoners  get  proper  care 
and  in  many  cases  bring  delicacies  from  their  own 
homes  for  a  man  in  trouble;  under  the  old  system 
an  officer  would  have  been  discharged  for  attempt- 
ing anything  like  this.  His  nose  was  always  at  the 
grindstone  and  if  he  did  not  report  a  prisoner  he 
would  be  reported  himself,  and  at  the  end  of  the  day 
was  not  human  if  he  was  not  nervous  and  a  grouch. 
Now  the  officer  has  more  time  with  his  family  and  as 
his  nerves  are  not  constantly  on  edge  he  enjoys  this 
time  and  so  does  his  family. 

When  first  the  new  system  was  inaugurated,  I  had 
little  faith  in  it,  but  it  has  stood  the  test  and  I  am  con- 
vinced that  the  men  are  better  under  it,  the  officers 
are  happier  under  it,  and  the  officers'  families  are 
grateful  for  it. 


CHAPTER  VII 

INDUSTRIAL  TRAINING  FOR  THE 
PRISONER 

BY  ARTHUR  D.  DEAN,  Sc.D. 

Director  of  Agricultural  and  Industrial  Education,  New  York  State 
Department  of  Education,  and  Professor  of  Vocational  Education, 
Teachers  College,  Columbia  University 


CHAPTER  VII 
INDUSTRIAL   TRAINING   FOR   THE    PRISONER 

WHILE  I  am  very  glad  to  contribute  a  chapter  on 
industrial  training  for  the  prisoner,  I  must  ask  that 
the  topic  assigned  be  considered  in  its  relationship  to 
the  whole  question  of  prison  reform.  I  cannot  con- 
ceive of  a  prison  system  of  industrial  training  which  is 
not  a  part  of  the  educational  system.  Furthermore, 
it  is  useless  to  think  of  the  reorganization  of  prison 
industries  from  the  standpoint  of  their  training  value 
without  taking  into  consideration  the  relationship 
which  the  educational  and  vocational  work  of  the 
prison  bears  to  the  whole  question  of  prison  ideals 
and  efficiency. 

I  appreciate  that  there  are  many  difficulties  in  es- 
tablishing a  new  educational  and  vocational  system 
in  prisons.  The  clientele,  taken  as  a  whole,  is  not 
particularly  interested  either  in  shop  work  or  book 
work.  Many  of  the  men  and  women  are  unskilled, 
with  irregular  habits  of  work,  and  with  a  vitality 
lowered  before  entering  the  prison.  We  know  that 
the  incentive  for  good  work  is  lacking,  that  men  are 
called  away  from  the  shops  for  considerable  periods 
of  time  for  medical  attention,  to  meet  the  chaplain, 
to  receive  relatives,  and  for  numerous  other  things 
which  break  in  upon  steady  productive  employment 
or  upon  other  activities  which  may  be  or  might  be 

127 


128    THE  PRISON  AND  THE  PRISONER 

educational.  We  know  that  men  are  drafted  from 
one  prison  to  another,  that  the  prison  term  for  some 
is  too  short  to  do  effective  work,  while  for  others  it^ 
is  so  long  that  the  inmates  are  discouraged  or  dis- 
inclined to  profit  by  useful  and  productive  study  or 
labor. 

We  know  that  the  productive  incentive  is  not  only 
lacking  on  the  part  of  the  men,  but  also  very  often 
on  the  part  of  the  prison  officials,  or  at  least  on  the 
part  of  the  shop  foremen.  The  latter  are  not  in  com- 
petition with  business.  The  output  of  the  shop  is 
seldom  at  its  peak  load.  The  inmates  are,  perhaps, 
not  only  inclined  to  lie  down  on  the  job,  but  the 
prison  methods,  whether  initiated  by  the  prison  itself 
or  emanating  from  some  official  higher  up,  are  sure 
to  make  it  quite  impossible  to  conduct  the  shops  on 
a  business  basis. 

It  is  perfectly  obvious  to  any  one  that  in  a  good 
many  prisons  there  are  very  few  shop  activities 
in  which  the  men  are  engaged  which  can  be  followed 
after  they  leave  prison.  Men  are  assigned  to  jobs  in 
a  perfectly  haphazard  manner,  sometimes  because  a 
particular  shop  needs  some  men  and  not  at  all  be- 
cause these  men  and  women  have  chosen  the  par- 
ticular work  represented  by  that  shop  while  in  prison 
or  will  necessarily  follow  that  work  after  they  leave. 
It  is  not  a  bit  of  an  overstatement  to  say  that  these 
people  are  really  forming  habits  of  idleness  rather 
than  of  work,  and  when  they  do  form  habits  of  work 
they  are  learning  under  methods  and  machinery 
which  are  often  antiquated  and  produce  a  low  quality 
of  workmanship. 


INDUSTRIAL  TRAINING  IN  PRISON 

As  I  have  already  said,  I  appreciate  these  difficult 
ties  and  it  is  fair  to  ask,  for  what  are  these  men  and 
women  in  prison?  What  purpose  has  society? 
Are  they  there  to  be  punished,  exploited,  redeemed, 
or  ruined?  Are  they  to  become  more  dependent 
than  ever  upon  society  through  so-called  reformative 
methods  which  make  them  more  dependent,  or  are 
these  mentally  or  morally  or  vocationally  defective 
people  to  be  redeemed  into  a  state  of  economic, 
social,  and  civic  independence?  If  they  are  to  be 
punished,  I  can  imagine  no  worse  punishment  than  to 
be  put  to  work  on  a  type  of  work  in  which  one  has  no 
interest  and  in  which  there  is  no  outlook,  and  for 
which  one  is  not  fitted.  If  they  are  to  be  exploited, 
I  can  suggest  no  better  type  of  exploitation  than  the 
manufacturing  of  articles  for  the  State  to  be  sold  in 
the  open  market  for  State  profit,  when  such  articles 
have  absolutely  no  relationship  to  the  educational, 
vocational,  or  reformative  needs  of  the  people  who 
make  them.  If  these  imprisoned  people  are  to  be 
ruined,  I  can  think  of  no  better  way  to  destroy  a 
man  who  enters  prison  industrially  and  commer- 
cially capable  along  certain  productive  lines  than 
to  assign  him  in  prison  to  lines  of  labor  which  have 
no  relationship  to  what  he  did  before  he  came  in  or 
what  he  can  do  after  he  leaves.  But  if  these  people 
are  to  be  redeemed,  then  we  must  know  and  appre- 
ciate some  aim  for  prison  industry  and  education, 
We  must  be  able  to  adjust  the  educational  and 
vocational  purposes  and  methods  of  the  new  prison 
to  meet  the  new  requirements  of  prison  schools  and 
industries. 


130    THE  PRISON  AND  THE  PRISONER 

My  program,  therefore,  rests  entirely  upon  the 
proposition  that  the  educational  and  vocational  sys- 
tem of  a  prison  is  but  a  part  of  a  larger  progress  for 
making,  through  every  activity  within  and  without 
the  prison  walls,  dependent  men  and  women  into 
independent  members  of  society.  In  other  words, 
the  prison  system  is  to  be  a  big  educational,  social, 
and  industrial  enterprise  to  make  physically,  men- 
tally, vocationally,  and  spiritually  new  men  and 
women.  It  should  be  the  business  of  the  prison  to 
so  organize  its  work  as  to  make  these  very  dependent 
people  into  independent  individuals.  They,  more 
than  any  other  type,  require  that  every  prison  ac- 
tivity contribute  towards  changing  them  from  de- 
pendents into  independents.  It  is  essential  that  all 
their  educational  work  be  made  more  or  less  directly 
productive  and  that  all  their  activity  work  be  made 
educational.  It  is  expected  that  all  the  vocational 
work  be  projected  into  the  useful  —  useful  in  the  de- 
velopment of  physical  health,  of  moral  character,  of 
intellectual  capacity,  and  of  socialized  citizenship. 
It  is  expected  that  all  productive  work  will  react 
in  the  physical,  mental,  moral,  and  social  develop- 
ment of  the  prison. 

A  prison  has  a  greater  opportunity  in  many  ways  . 
than  the  public  school,  for  it  has  twenty-four  hours 
a  day  program  —  a  program  which  may  be  divided 
up  on  the  basis  of  five  aims.  First,  the  development 
of  vital  efficiency.  This  concerns  the  physical 
side  of  the  prisoner  and  is  related  to  the  prison  work 
which  is  chosen  for  him  or  which  he  chooses  in  that 
the  labor  must  be  in  accord  with  his  strength  and  with 


INDUSTRIAL  TRAINING  IN  PRISON    131 

conditions  making  for  increased  health.  Second, 
vocational  efficiency  along  the  lines  of  the  industrial, 
agricultural,  commercial,  or  professional.  This  will 
be  taken  up  in  detail  later.  Third,  civic  efficiency 
or  fellowship,  and  the  very  best  way  to  develop  this 
type  of  efficiency  is  through  some  form  of  self-govern- 
ment. The  public  schools  are  finding  that  they^ 
cannot  train  boys  and  girls  for  citizenship  by  study- 
ing dates,  reigns  of  political  parties,  times  and 
places  of  battles,  or  even  mere  book  lessons  on  civics. 
The  public  schools  are  reaching  out  to  incorporate 
somehow  into  their  school  activities  the  spirit  of  self- 
government.  These  young  people  have  not  been 
tested  in  self-government  and  the  time  for  such 
testing  does  not  come  until  they  meet  the  conditions 
imposed  by  society  and  their  fellow  beings.  The 
prisoners  have  been  tested  and  have  been  found 
wanting,  and  this  want  can  never  be  met  any  more 
than  the  public  schools  can  teach  through  preach- 
ments about  civic  duties  and  individual  rights  and 
community  needs.  Some  good  people  would  impose 
still  more  preaching  systems  on  the  public  school 
children  instead  of  some  system  of  practical  govern- 
ment, and  I  suppose  like-minded  persons  would  ad- 
vocate lesson  leaflets  to  be  distributed  to  the  prison- 
ers on  how  to  be  good  citizens.  But  the  best  way 
to  learn  how  is  to  learn  to  be,  and  the  best  way  to 
be,  is  to  have  the  chance  to  be,  and  to  have  the  best 
chance  is  to  participate  in  some  type  of  self-govern- 
ment. 

Fourth,  moral  and  social  service  efficiency.     The 
pedagogy  which  has  been  given  in  the  preceding  para- 


132    THE  PRISON  AND  THE  PRISONER 

graph  applies  here  equally  well.  One  does  not 
learn  how  to  be  good  by  having  some  one  stand  over 
him  with  a  club.  Genuine  goodness  is  not  generated 
in  a  dark  cell.  "  Do  good  and  make  good  "  is  the  only 
way  to  make  goodness.  People  are  never  made  good 
any  way.  They  make  themselves  good,  and  so  I 
am  led  right  back  to  the  principle  of  some  form  of 
self-government. 

Fifth,  avocational  efficiency,  which  means  the 
right  use  of  leisure  where  men  get  the  habit  of  using 
their  leisure  profitably  —  the  habit  of  reading  in  the 
evening,  the  habit  of  going  to  good  prison  entertain- 
ments, the  habit  of  electing  whether  one  wants  to 
stay  in  his  cell  and  read,  or  go  to  a  "movie  ",  or  go 
to  a  class  in  book  work,  or  to  some  evening  vocational 
work.  In  this  way  prisoners  will  learn  to  be  masters 
of  their  leisure  and  to  choose  in  one  form  or  another 
a  type  of  recreation  or  study,  but  one  can  have  no 
choice  when  he  is  locked  in  his  cell  after  the  working 
hours  are  over.  How,  by  such  a  system,  does  society 
develop  initiative  and  judgment  as  to  the  use  of 
one's  free  time  ? 

I  should  not  speak  of  these  general  things  which 
may  seem  to  some  to  be  apart  from  the  title  of  the 
chapter  except,  as  I  have  already  implied,  that  I 
must  think  of  a  prison  as  being  somehow  a  social, 
or  perhaps  a  better  term  would  be  a  civic,  unit  in 
itself.  It  takes  in  at  its  back  door  human  and 
material  products  and  by  thoughts,  manipulations, 
and  expressions  of  each  makes  them  both  over  for 
larger  social  and  economic  needs.  The  wood  comes 
in  as  a  raw  product;  it  goes  out  as  an  office  desk. 


INDUSTRIAL  TRAINING  IN  PRISON    133 

The  prisoner  comes  in  as  a  knotty  problem ;  he  goes 
out  as  a  useful  and  productive  citizen.  Now  the 
prison,  like  a  community,  has  its  civic  work  to  be  per- 
formed. It  has  people  to  be  fed,  clothed,  housed, 
instructed,  governed,  and  guided.  Each  person  in  a 
city  finds  opportunity,  or  ought  to  be  able  to  find  it, 
to  express  himself  and  to  contribute  to  the  well- 
being  and  conduct  of  the  community.  Some  hold 
positions  of  responsibility  and  direction.  Others 
are  directed  in  a  narrow  field  of  work.  Of  course 
there  is  some  injustice  in  the  way  the  cities  are 
governed.  There  are  individual  failings  and  indif- 
ferent rewards,  but  taken  as  a  whole,  .is  there  not  a 
recognition  of  service  and  opportunity  for  advance- 
ment and  free  choice  of  occupation  and  the  normal 
finding  of  vocational  levels  ?  If  the  community  offers 
this  freedom,  why  should  not  a  prison,  which  is  to 
fit  people  for  this  freedom  ?  If  a  community  takes 
into  account  the  vital,  normal,  social,  industrial, 
vocational,  and  avocational  efficiency  of  its  citizens 
and  considers  these  elements  collectively,  why  should 
not  a  prison  system  think  of  these  types  of  efficiency 
collectively  and  not  as  separate  and  independent  or 
neglected  units? 

We  hear  a  good  deal  these  days  about  the  Gary 
plan  in  the  public  schools,  that  is,  the  system  used  in 
Gary  of  dividing  the  activities  of  the  school  into  three 
heads  :  work,  play,  and  study.  I  am  thinking  that 
the  prison  system  might  adopt  the  same  spirit  of  a 
fair  division  of  the  activities  into  :  first,  useful,  prof- 
itable, and  productive  labor ;  second,  health-giving, 
morally  uplifting,  and  socially  serviceable  recreation ; 


134    THE  PRISON  AND  THE  PRISONER 

and  third,  book  work  related  to  the  activity  work  in 
the  institution  where  correlation  will  be  profitable, 
or,  book  work  dealing  with  the  primary  needs  of  the 
illiterate  prisoner  at  one  extreme,  or  with  the  intel- 
lectual desires  of  men  already  intellectually  trained, 
at  the  other.  These  three  divisions  of  time  would 
vary  with  the  seasons  and  with  the  weather  condi- 
tions. They  would  recognize  holidays,  days  of 
religious  observances,  the  seasons,  and  so  on.  But 
generally  speaking  there  would  be  some  set  division 
of  time  for  the  activities  under  each  head  as  are  con- 
sidered in  any  well  developed  educational  institution, 
and  I  take  it, .that  is  primarily  what  a  prison  is :  a 
great  educational  enterprise. 

Nothing  in  the  prison  causes  me  more  concern 
than  that  there  seems  to  be  such  a  large  number 
of  men  and  women  employed  in  what  are  commonly 
called  the  maintenance  occupations  —  men  and 
women  who  are  cleaning,  scrubbing,  washing,  cook- 
ing, running  errands,  doing  chores,  and  so  on.  Un- 
questionably most  of  this  work,  as  it  is  arranged,  at 
least,  does  not  fit  a  man  or  woman  for  employment 
after  release.  I  appreciate  that  it  is  necessary  to 
carry  on  these  maintenance  occupations  and  that 
there  is  need  of  food  to  be  cooked,  halls  to  be  cleaned, 
and  dishes  to  be  washed,  but  I  insist  that  this  sort  of 
work  is  to  be  done  as  quickly  and  effectively  as 
possible,  not  so  much  as  tasks,  but  as  duties  neces- 
sary to  the  social  welfare  of  the  institution.  There  is 
little  or  no  educational  or  vocational  value  in  such 
work,  but  it  can  be  made  to  have  its  social  value. 
We  must  remember  that  there  is  a  vast  difference 


INDUSTRIAL  TRAINING  IN  PRISON    135 

between  being  a  washer  of  dishes  or  a  peeler  of  pota- 
toes, and  being  trained  as  an  expert  cook.  There  is 
a  large  difference  between  service  as  a  waitress  at  a 
prison  dining  table  and  being  trained  at  expert  serv- 
ice at  table  work  in  a  private  family.  I  would 
separate  most  definitely  service  in  necessary  institu- 
tional duties  from  training  for  service  in  vocational 
life  outside  of  the  prison.  There  is  a  legitimate  field 
for  the  ordinary  institutional  duties  when  properly 
handled,  but  this  field  is  clearly  outside  that  of  voca- 
tional training.  For  example,  take  a  woman's 
prison.  To  train  these  women  to  be  waitresses, 
laundresses,  cooks,  mothers'  helpers,  child  carers, 
junior  nurses,  second  maids,  chambermaids,  means 
something  definite,  purposeful,  instructional,  and 
intensive  in  doing  through  institutional  activity  the 
type  of  work  demanded  by  the  outside  world.  If 
a  woman  prisoner  is  to  take  care  of  some  young 
children  belonging  to  an  officer,  the  work  may  have 
social  content.  If  she  is  trained  to  take  care  of  these 
children,  her  work  may  have  educational  content. 
If  she  does  this  work  with  the  idea  and  is  taught  with 
the  idea  that  she  is  to  go  out  into  the  world  as  a  nurse 
girl,  then  it  has  -vocational  content. 
;  There  is  a  big  difference  for  a  male  prisoner  between 
cleaning  out  the  cow  barn  and  learning  to  be  a  dairy- 
man, or  sweeping  out  a  printing  room  as  compared 
to  being  a  printer's  apprentice;  between  cobbling 
institutional  shoes  and  working  in  a  shoe  factory  on 
automatic  machinery;  between  being  ordered  to 
clean  up  a  yard  and  learning  to  become  a  gardener ; 
between  caning  chairs,  weaving  rugs,  making  willow 


136    THE  PRISON  AND  THE  PRISONER 

baskets,  and  learning  a  profitable,  useful,  and  decent 
trade.  Some  persons  emphasize  the  importance  of 
agriculture  for  prisoners  but  I  would  have  them  go 
into  it  with  some  definite  vocational  and  educational 
aim.  To  have  them  fuss  around  a  garden  or  be 
domineered  over  in  the  garden  on  about  the  same 
basis  as  they  would  cobble  shoes  or  make  cheap 
shirts  is  unsocial,  uneducational,  and  non vocational. 
To  have  persons  do  garden  work  with  the  same 
amount  of  thought  put  into  it  and  the  same  quality 
of  teaching  which  they  would  get  in  a  classroom  if 
they  were  studying  from  books,  would  be  to  make 
their  garden  work  most  decidedly  educational  and 
mentally  developing,  but  this  sort  of  garden  work 
might  be  educational  and  social  without  being 
vocational,  and  here  is  my  point.  If  we  expect  to 
make  these  prisoners  into  farmers,  we  must  get  them 
to  become  farm-minded  so  that  they  will  stay  on  the 
farm  when  they  are  placed  there.  To  become  farm- 
minded  they  must  have  definite  farm  work,  or  rather 
I  should  say,  farm  training.  Full  opportunity  must 
be  given  them  to  discover  whether  or  not  they  are 
farm-minded,  and  then  when  they  are  placed  on  a 
farm  they  will  make  good  not  only  because  they  have 
been  trained,  but  because,  through  a  system,  they 
have  been  selected  and  placed  as  well  as  trained. 

I  appreciate  that  it  is  necessary  to  carry  on  main- 
tenance occupations,  but  I  believe  they  should  be 
thought  of  along  two  lines :  first,  that  a  good  deal 
of  this  work  should  be  done  by  men  and  women  who 
show  no  skill  nor  any  desire  to  be  skilled ;  and  second, 
that  every  member  of  the  prison  community  should 


INDUSTRIAL  TRAINING  IN  PRISON    137 

make  a  small  contribution,  no  matter  what  other  line 
of  activity  he  is  pursuing,  in  furthering  some  of  the 
necessary  maintenance  work  of  the  prison.  I  under- 
stand that  a  very  large  percentage  —  abnormally 
large  —  of  the  inmates  of  prisons  are  engaged  in 
menial  tasks  incident  to  maintenance,  and  yet  we 
are  thinking  that  these  men  are  being  trained  for  the 
workaday  world  and  that  they  learn  their  place  in 
citizenship.  But  what  a  poor  sort  of  a  community  it 
would  be  that  used  the  full  time  of  more  than  half  of 
its  inhabitants  in  the  menial  tasks  incident  to  the 
maintenance  of  the  civic  plant. 

Broadly  speaking,  the  maintenance  activities  of 
the  prison  come  under  three  heads :  first,  the  social 
and  necessary  occupations  such  as  dish-washing, 
cleaning,  etc.  They  have  no  vocational  value  and 
are  to  be  disposed  of  as  quickly  and  effectively  as 
possible.  Second,  the  educational  activities  of  cook- 
ing, caring  for  heating  plant,  expert  janitorial  service, 
and  so  on,  which  may  have  thinking  and  training 
values  and  may  be  so  taught  as  to  have  intellectual 
development  and  also  an  educational  value.  Third, 
those  activities  which  are  directly  vocational  and 
which  may  be  taught  with  this  end  in  view :  such  oc- 
cupations as  plumbing,  tinsmithing,  agriculture, 
painting,  and  so  on. 

Perhaps  agriculture  and  farm  work  offer  a  good 
illustration  of  the  foregoing.  I  can  think  of  men 
pulling  weeds,  hoeing  corn,  and  digging  potatoes  as 
a  social  service  for  the  prison.  This  work  would 
be  a  physical  benefit  to  many  inmates  and  these 
activities  are  necessary  to  maintain  operations. 


138    THE  PRISON  AND  THE  PRISONER 

But  if  some  of  the  men  who  are  mentally  competent 
were  taught  something  of  soils,  fertilizers,  plant  life, 
rotation  of  crops,  and  so  on,  then  one  can  see  that 
they  would  receive  intellectual  training.  And  then 
if  these  men,  or  some  of  them  at  least,  were  taught 
these  things  and  did  these  things  in  order  that  they 
might  become  farmers  and  were  carefully  instructed 
and  inspired  that  they  would  become  farm-minded, 
and  were  placed,  after  the  expiration  of  their  sen- 
tences, upon  farms  and  followed  up  in  their  work, 
then  one  sees  that  the  third  type  of  training  would  be 
vocational.  I  should  not  for  a  moment  think  that 
I  were  training  farmers  by  having  inmates  hoe 
corn  or  dig  potatoes,  and  neither  should  I  think  I 
had  made  a  farmer  by  teaching  a  man  farming  when 
I  had  not  during  the  process  made  him  so  farm- 
minded  that  he  would  stay  on  the  farm  after  a  posi- 
tion had  been  obtained  there  for  him. 

Prisoners  must  be  paid  for  their  work.  Very  few 
men,  and  I  suppose,  strictly  speaking,  no  man, 
works  without  some  strong  incentive  ranging  from 
desire  for  food  to  desire  to  do  unselfish  deeds.  A 
prisoner  differs  little  in  this  respect  from  the  free 
laborer.  Many  prisoners  have  a  strong  feeling  of 
antagonism  toward  the  State  while  working  in  the 
shops,  and  they  vent  this  feeling  upon  the  work 
which  they  are  doing.  I  recall  the  first  office  desk 
which  was  given  me  when  I  entered  on  a  State  posi- 
tion. It  was  made  in  one  of  the  prisons  of  the 
State,  and  I  was  reminded  every  time  I  attempted 
to  raise  the  roll  top  or  open  a  drawer,  that  the  par- 
ticular prisoner  or  prisoners  who  worked  on  that 


INDUSTRIAL  TRAINING  IN  PRISON    139 

article  of  the  State  must  certainly  have  had  a  grouch. 
And  somehow,  I  don't  know  that  I  exactly  blame 
them.  There  seem  to  be  only  about  two  ways  to 
overcome  such  poor  workmanship :  one  is  by  pun- 
ishing a  man  for  the  poor  work,  and  the  other  is  by 
rewarding  him  for  good  work.  The  slave  days  of  the 
old  South  are  like  the  modern  days  in  some  of  the  old 
prisons.  Booker  T.  Washington  in  his  book  "Work- 
ing with  the  Hands"  says  of  the  negro :  "The  race 
had  been  worked  in  slavery  and  the  great  lesson 
which  the  race  needed  to  learn  in  freedom  was  to 
work.  As  a  slave  the  negro  was  worked.  As  a 
freeman  he  must  learn  to  work."  Being  worked 
means  degradation  —  working  means  civilization. 
If  labor  goes  hand  in  hand  with  opportunity  then 
labor  has  a  purpose.  When  it  is  accompanied  by 
denial  of  opportunity  its  effect  is  limiting  if  not  actu- 
ally crushing.  As  I  have  said,  there  must  be  some 
incentive.  This  incentive  may  come  from  time  off, 
or  token  money,  or  real  money.  It  is  very  likely 
that  it  is  inadvisable  to  give  the  prisoner  actual 
money,  as  the  opportunities  afforded  for  corrupt  use 
are  many.  It  is  clearly  evident  that  the  payment  of 
some  sort  of  wage,  either  in  time  off  or  token  money, 
will  result  in  profit  to  the  State  in  all  the  productive 
work  in  that  the  prisoners  will  be  exerting  energy 
for  the  State  instead  of  being  against  it.  From  the 
standpoint  of  the  prisoner,  some  sort  of  rewarding 
system  will  give  him  responsibility  and  practice  in 
his  prison  world  with  conditions  with  which  he  will 
deal  on  the  outside.  It  is  clearly  evident  that  men 
can  quickly  recognize  their  vocational  status  by  the 


140    THE  PRISON  AND  THE  PRISONER 

pay  envelope,  and  if  privileges  like  tobacco,  enter- 
tainments, buying  things  on  the  outside,  special 
dinners,  etc.  depend  upon  the  amount  of  token 
money  which  these  men  have  and  the  latter  in  turn 
depends  upon  the  type  of  work  and  the  amount  of 
work  which  they  do,  it  is  evident  that  these  men 
would  see  the  relationship  between  personal  cause 
and  economic  effect. 

Whatever  we  may  think  of  the  George  Junior 
Republic  idea  as  a  whole,  Mr.  George's  idea  of 
"Nothing  without  Labor"  can  never  fail  to  impress 
us.  The  productive  end  of  the  prison  will  produce 
neither  men  nor  things  in  any  efficient  or  effective  way 
until  there  is  some  way  of  recognizing  efficiency  and 
some  way  of  letting  men  see  themselves  that  un- 
skilled work,  loitering,  and  loafing  bring  their  just 
retribution ;  and  that  ability  to  do  skilled  work,  re- 
sponsiveness to  demands  made  upon  them,  bring 
their  just  rewards.  I  would  go  so  far  as  to  charge  up 
to  the  prisoner  the  cost  of  his  board,  his  cell,  the 
salaries  of  the  guards  required  to  watch  over  him. 
I  would  pay  him  in  token  money  in  proportion  to  the 
quality  and  quantity  of  his  work.  If  he  did  skilled 
work  and  did  it  well  and  if  the  prison  were  disposing 
of  this  product  and  getting  good  value  for  his  work, 
I  would  pay  him,  and  I  would  pay  him  an  amount 
such  that  he  could  live  in  the  Waldorf  Astoria  end 
of  the  prison  and  have  privileges  inside  the  prison 
walls  in  accord  with  the  kind  of  work  that  he  does 
and  the  kind  of  man  that  he  is.  The  State  is 
getting  something  from  this  sort  of  man  and  it  is 
quite  reasonable  that  it  give  something  back  to  him, 


INDUSTRIAL  TRAINING  IN  PRISON    141 

that  he  in  turn  may  spend  it  in  the  prison,  save  it 
up  for  use  outside  or  send  it,  as  he  would  be  expected 
to,  to  his  dependents  if  he  has  any,  on  the  outside. 
On  the  other  hand,  if  a  man  had  to  be  watched  con- 
stantly, which  meant  a  large  expense  for  guarding, 
if  he  were  only  capable  or  only  willing  to  do  low- 
grade  work,  then  he  would  have  the  privileges  of  the 
Bowery  lodge  and  could  eat  at  the  cafS  des  enfants 
end  of  the  establishment.  I  have  no  interest  in  or 
any  understanding  of  any  other  system  of  prison 
industry  unless,  of  course,  one  is  thinking  of  develop- 
ing the  type  of  industry  which  is  frankly  punitive, 
slavish,  and  definitely  planned  to  economically  and 
socially  ruin  every  prisoner  it  touches. 

Men  should  be  assigned  to  occupations  for  which 
they  are  fitted.  If  they  are  unfitted  for  the  skilled, 
they  should  be  assigned  to  the  unskilled,  and  as  fast 
as  they  desire  to  work  into  the  skilled,  they  should 
be  given  opportunities.  And  in  choosing  a  skilled 
occupation  the  educational  director  should  assist 
by  a  careful  study  of  the  prisoner's  ability,  previous 
education,  previous  vocation,  and  his  present  motives 
and  interests.  There  is  practically  no  vocational 
or  educational  justification  for  male  prisoners  being 
assigned  to  knit,  mat,  brush,  and  broom  shops. 
Nearly  all  knitting  work  is  done  by  women,  and 
there  is  practically  no  labor  market  for  mat  workers. 
The  same  is  true  of  the  brush  industry,  for  in  the 
outside  world  all  brush  making  is  done  by  machinery. 
The  broom  business  in  institutions  is  very  properly 
in  the  hands  of  those  who  are  unfortunately  blind. 
It  is  the  chief  outlet  for  the  hands  that  see  and  the 


142    THE  PRISON  AND  THE  PRISONER 

X 

eyes  that  are  dim.  The  only  justification  for  the 
above  mentioned  industries  is  that  they  may  make 
money  for  the  State  and  may  punish  the  inmates. 
They  are  frankly  punitive  industries  and  bear  abso- 
lutely no  relationship  to  the  vocational  or  educa- 
tional. Of  course  some  inmates  who  have  no  partic- 
ular intelligence,  being  practically  defective,  might 
be  assigned  to  this  work  and  paid  accordingly,  and 
the  privileges  which  they  would  receive  would  be  in 
accordance  with  the  kind  of  work  they  were  doing. 
It  would  not  be  very  long,  if  a  man  were  bright,  be- 
fore he  would  catch  the  incentive  of  the  workaday 
world  and  ask  to  be  transferred  to  the  vocational 
training  department  where  he  would  learn  a  trade 
which  would  be  worth  while,  or  to  some  productive 
activity  of  a  higher  order  which  would  pay  him  better. 
If  it  is  discovered  through  psychiatric  tests  that  a 
man  is  really  defective,  then  it  would  be  unfair 
to  assign  him  for  a  long  time  to  the  type  of  work 
the  financial  rewards  of  which  kept  him  down  in  the 
Bowery  end  of  the  prison.  A  mental  defective 
rather  likes  routine  work.  He  becomes  quite  adept 
in  automatic  motions,  and  it  is  very  likely  that  the 
quantity  of  his  work  would  be  such  that  he  would 
receive  far  more  remuneration  than  those  who  were 
working  alongside  of  him  who  were  on  a  punitive 
basis,  so  that  he  would  not  be  obliged  to  live  on  a 
low  economic  scale. 

But  I  am  expected  to  give  more  specific  details. 
This  I  am  glad  to  do,  although  I  believe  that  voca- 
tional and  educational  work  in  prisons  is  more  in 
need  of  philosophy  of  purpose  and  method  at  the 


INDUSTRIAL  TRAINING  IN  PRISON    143 

present  time  than  it  is  of  attention  to  specific  details, 
especially  when  the  material  in  this  chapter  is  ex- 
pected to  be  applicable  to  any  State  and  any  type  of 
correctional  institution.  This  forbids  any  very 
specific  statements.  I  suggest,  however,  for  con- 
sideration the  following : 

First.  There  must  be  some  system  of  adminis- 
tering correctional  institutions  to  bring  to  pass  the 
principles  already  mentioned.  There  is  need  of  a 
board  of  standardization  and  distribution  of  goods 
to  be  manufactured  in  the  various  correctional  insti- 
tutions. There  should  be  a  State  superintendent  of 
industries  as  the  executive  officer  of  this  board. 

Second.  The  board  should  find  a  market  for  in- 1 
stitutional  goods.  This  market  will  be  other  public 
institutions  such  as  schools,  asylums,  poorhouses, 
and  so  on.  The  State  should  require  the  purchase 
of  these  goods  and  there  will  be  little  difficulty  in 
such  purchasing  if  the  goods  are  excellent  in  quality 
and  reasonable  in  price.  But  no  one  wants  to  be 
required  to  purchase  inferior  goods  out  of  the  meager 
appropriations  usually  allotted  to  schools,  asylums, 
and  so  on  when  they  can  obtain  better  goods  in  the 
open  market. 

Third.  The  board  of  standardization  must  create  \ 
a  market  by  manufacturing  some  products  which 
are  not  sold  in  the  open  market.  For  example, 
physical  training  in  the  public  schools  has  taken  an 
immense  forward  step  within  the  last  year.  Thou- 
sands of  pieces  of  outdoor  apparatus  simple  and  in- 
expensive must  be  purchased.  This  affords  excellent 
opportunity  for  some  correctional  institution  to 


144    THE  PRISON  AND  THE  PRISONER 

make  this  apparatus  from  original  designs.  Or 
again,  the  country  schools  are  beginning  to  put  in 
simple  domestic  science  equipments.  Here  is  splen- 
did opportunity  for  some  enterprising  superintendent 
of  prison  industry  to  devise  an  inexpensive  equip- 
ment consisting  of  a  demonstration  table,  alcohol 
stove,  tinware,  and  so  on;  something  which  could 
be  sold  to  the  schools  at  an  expense  ranging  from 
twenty -five  to  fifty  dollars. 

Fourth.  It  must  be  kept  in  mind  that  the  indus-^ 
tries  must  be  of  such  a  nature  that  the  prisoner  on 
release  will  be  fitted  for  some  useful  line  of  occupa- 
tion, and  the  industries  undertaken  must  be  of  such 
a  nature  that  the  State  will  derive  financial  advan- 
tage from  their  pursuit. 

Fifth.  The  State  must  develop  some  working 
plan  of  coordination  and  cooperation  of  all  the  in- 
dustrial work  of  charitable  and  correctional  insti- 
tutions financed  in  whole  or  in  part  by  public  money. 
For  example,  the  schools  for  the  blind  should  have 
the  monopoly  of  brush  and  broom  making.  A 
prison  located  in  the  dairying  district  should  have 
the  monopoly  of  producing  condensed  milk,  cheese, 
and  so  on.  An  institution  located  near  a  large  city 
would  naturally  have  a  good  portion  of  its  vocational 
equipment  devoted  to  sheet  metal  work,  machine 
shop  practice,  plumbing,  and  so  on. 

Sixth.  Each  institution  must  have  an  educational 
director  or  a  supervisor  of  shop  work.  Some  institu- 
tions require  two  officials,  but  all  institutions  having 
only  one  will  require  that  the  one  employed  com- 
bines the  industrial  and  educational  spirit  of  prison 


INDUSTRIAL  TRAINING  IN  PRISON    145 

work.  If  the  prison  has  two  officials  who  are  directly 
concerned  with  the  educational  and  vocational  work, 
one  must  be  of  the  manufacturing,  executive  type  — 
an  organizer  of  men.  The  other  associated  with  him 
and  of  equal  rank  and  working  directly  with  him 
should  be  an  educational  director  who  knows  edu- 
cational and  vocational  needs  and  who  knows  the 
opportunities  open  to  men  and  women  after  they 
leave  prison;  who  knows  how  to  train  inmates  for 
these  opportunities  and  who  has  ability  in  analyzing 
the  vocational  and  educational  needs  of  individual 
prisoners,  and  who  can  follow  up  their  progress  in 
the  various  shops. 

Seventh.  The  educational  and  vocational  work  in 
institutions  must  include  the  principle  of  vocational 
guidance.  Men  and  women  must  be  studied  with  a  ' 
view  of  determining  the  intellectual  and  vocational 
interests  and  needs.  The  educational  and  voca- 
tional work  must  be  adjusted  to  meet  these  needs. 
This  means  mental  and  physical  examination  at  en- 
trance and  continued  examinations  from  time  to  time. 
It  means  the  segregation  of  mental  defectives.  •  Effi- 
ciency of  shop  plants  would  increase  immeasurably 
thereby. 

Eighth.  It  should  be  a  condition  of  parole  that , 
no  prisoner  may  be  discharged  until  he  can  read, 
write,  and  speak  the  English  language,  except  for 
reasons  of  physical  or  mental  defect.  Perhaps  the 
only  feature  of  educational  work  which  should  be 
made  absolutely  compulsory  is  that  of  removing 
illiteracy,  and  no  inmate  should  be  allowed  to 
escape  the  first  obligations  of  citizenship.  Attend- 


146    THE  PRISON  AND  THE  PRISONER 

ance  upon  classes  in  reading,  writing,  and  speaking 
the  English  language  should  be  made  compulsory  for 
those  who  are  illiterate.  They  might  receive  "com- 
pensation" as  those  in  productive  labor  and  there 
might  also  be  voluntary  class  work  in  hygiene,  civics, 
history,  and  arithmetic.  There  may  even  be  classes 
in  economics,  political  science,  elementary  engineer- 
ing, stenography,  typewriting,  telegraphy,  and  such 
work  and  any  other  subject  where  at  least  five  in- 
mates are  willing  to  attend  the  full  number  of  evening 
classes.  Whether  these  classes  should  be  held  in  the 
daytime  or  evening  or  both  is  not  discussed  here. 

Ninth.  The  trade  work  in  institutions  must  not 
be  entered  into  until  there  is  an  understanding  with 
organized  labor.  This  principle  has  a  deep  signifi- 
cance especially  in  some  trades.  For  exaniple,  in 
printing.  In  New  York  State  it  would  be  practically 
impossible  for  a  man  to  secure  work  as  a  printer  if 
he  had  been  trained  in  a  prison  trade  school  of  print- 
ing unless  the  Union  desired  to  or  were  willing  to 
admit  him.  I  do  not  anticipate  very  much  difficulty 
in  this  matter  provided  those  interested  in  prison  re- 
form work  on  the  principle  that  they  must  cooperate 
with  organized  labor  and  have  the  latter  understand 
the  economic  and  social  advantages  of  the  new  voca- 
tional educational  movement. 

Tenth.  The  State  administration  in  charge  of 
charitable  and  correctional  institutions  should  co- 
operate with  other  State  boards  or  commissions. 
The  department  of  agriculture,  for  example,  can  as- 
sist materially  with  suggestions  and  expert  assist- 
ance in  matters  agricultural.  The  State  superin- 


INDUSTRIAL  TRAINING  IN  PRISON    147 

tendent  of  public  instruction  through  his  association 
can  give  direct  help  in  the  educational  work.  The 
United  States  Government  and  a  number  of  the 
States  employ  specialists  in  vocational  instruction 
whose  services  may  be  requisitioned. 

Eleventh.  Suggestions  as  to  the  occupations 
which  may  be  represented  in  correctional  institutions 
follow.  Obviously  one  must  keep  in  mind  that 
these  suggestions  are  very  dependent  upon  location 
and  type  of  institution. 

(A)  AGRICULTURE.  Farm  enterprise  can  play  a 
large  part  in  a  scheme  of  rehabilitation  of  prisoners. 
There  is  a  marked  moral  and  physical  reaction  from 
intimate  relationships  with  growing  objects  and 
responsibility  assumed  in  their  care.  Furthermore,  \ 
the  food  supply  of  the  institutional  table  from  the 
farm  is  naturally  superior  to  that  purchased.  In 
obtaining  a  site  for  an  institution,  the  State  should 
take  into  consideration  the  conditions/  of  the  soil, 
drainage,  and  location.  There  can  be  an  exchange 
of  products  between  the  various  State  institutions. 
For  example,  butter,  cheese,  condensed  milk,  and  so 
on  from  an  institution  located  in  a  dairy  district 
could  be  exchanged  for  products  of  an  institution 
which  is  more  favorably  located  for  the  growing  of 
fruits  and  the  specialty  of  which  would  be  canned 
and  preserved  goods.  Plants  and  flowers  might  be 
successfully  put  on  the  market  from  an  institution 
located  near  a  city  and  where  the  soil  was  such  as  to 
produce  these  products. 

Too  much  cheap  meat  is  eaten  by  the  average  pris- 
oner. Unless  these  men  perform  more  manual  labor, 


148    THE  PRISON  AND  THE  PRISONER 

it  would  be  better  for  an  institution  to  discover 
grains  and  vegetables  which  would  furnish  the  same 
nutriment.  These  would  be  very  nutritious  and 
less  expensive. 

Again,  every  State  has  a  large  amount  of  land 
which  is  practically  valueless.  It  either  needs  re- 
forestation or  drainage  or  scientific  cultivation  for 
a  number  of  years.  Here  alone  is  a  never  ceasing 
occupation  for  institutions  to  undertake. 

(B)  PRINTING  AND  PUBLISHING.     Annual  reports 
of  the  various  State  departments  and  commissions, 
the  session  laws,  letterheads,  printed  and  embossed, 
lithographed  letters,  school  certificates,  and  so  on 
furnish  an  ample  field. 

(C)  SCHOOL  AND  OFFICE  FURNITURE.     The  quan- 
tity of  goods  used  by  State,  county,  and  city  in- 
stitutions and  by  the  public  schools  in  the  lines  of 
wood  and  metal  furniture  is  very  large.      Manual 
training   benches,   cooking   tables,   drawing   equip- 
ments, school  desks,  physical  apparatus,  filing  cabi- 
nets, lockers,  and  a  score  of  other  articles  might  be 
made  with  profit  to  the  inmates  and  to  the  State. 
But  the  institutions  will  need  more  adequate  machin- 
ery to  handle  a  well  turned  out  product. 

(D)  SHEET    METAL.      Cornices,  metal  ceilings, 
ventilators,   waste   cans,   automobile   license  signs, 
utensils,  and  other1  products  in  the  line  of  sheet 
metal  wates  will  find  a  steady  outlet  and  the  making 
of  these  products  will  provide  excellent  trade  instruc- 
tion. 

(E)  KNIT  GOODS.      Hosiery,  underwear,  sweaters, 
gloves,  caps,  scarfs,  and  any  other  products  of  knit- 


INDUSTRIAL  TRAINING  IN  PRISON    149 

ting  machines  are  admirable  lines  of  work  for  useful 
and  profitable  employment  for  female  inmates.  It 
would  make  an  angel  weep  to  visit  some  institutions 
and  see  men  doing  this  sort  of  work  under  the  name 
of  vocational  training. 

(F)  BOOTS,  SHOES,  AND  SLIPPERS.     These  articles 
are  much  needed.     If  making  brooms  is  a  blind  man's 
job  and  making  overalls  and  knit  goods  is  a  woman's 
job,  then  the  present  way  of  making  shoes  in  a  State 
prison  is  a  grandfather's  job.     The  machinery  used 
and  methods  employed  are  antiquated.     Now  if  the 
institutions  that  claim  to  make  shoes  are  doing  it  for 
the  sake  of  making  shoes,  then  all  one  has  to  do  is  to 
change  the  label  over  the  door  and  say  :  "  This  is  the 
place  where  we  make  poor  shoes  by  ancient  processes 
and  do  all  we  can  to  unfit  a  man  to  earn  a  living 
through   shoe   manufacturing   after  he  leaves   this 
institution."     The    shoe    industry    offers    a    great 
opportunity  for  trade  education  in  institutions  if 
the  shops  are  conducted  on  a  plan  of  organization 
and  equipment  and  method  similar  to  that  provided 
on  the  outside. 

(G)  MECHANICAL  AND  SKILLED  TRADES.    Plumb- 
ing, machine  shop  practice,  electrical  work,  automo- 
bile repairing,  foundry  work,  painting  and  decorating, 
building    construction,    steam    fitting,    boiler    and 
engine   practice   are   useful   and   profitable   trades. 
Obviously  the  equipment  for  some  of  these  lines  of 
work  is  expensive.     It  is  equally  true  that  not  every 
institution   could  have   all   these  lines,   and   some 
located  in  the  country  would  have  practically  none 
of  them.     Generally  speaking,  which  is  all  one  can 


150    THE   PRISON  AND  THE  PRISONER 

do  if  he  is  thinking  of  the  country  as  a  whole,  it 
would  be  well  to  have  one  State  institution  so 
equipped  for  the  teaching  of  these  trades  that  it 
could  do  considerable  of  the  repair  work  for  all  the 
institutions. 

(H)  BRICK,  STONE,  AND  CEMENT  WORK.  Arti- 
ficial stone,  brick  for  State  roads,  cement  roads,  and 
the  manufacture  of  brick  for  building  offer  a  field 
for  effort  for  an  institution  located  where  the  raw 
material  may  be  easily  obtained  and  where  there  is 
a  market  for  the  output. 

(I)  LAUNDRY  WORK.  Of  course  every  institu- 
tion has  its  laundry.  A  good  many  of  them  claim 
to  be  training  laundry  workers.  It  is  safe  to  say  that 
no  laundrymen  are  made  through  washing  overalls 
and  prisoners'  shirts.  The  skill  and  experience  ob- 
tained here  can  hardly  be  transferred  to  the  ironing 
of  a  lady's  waist  or  a  dress  skirt  in  an  outside  laundry. 
If  laundry  workers  are  to  be  trained,  they  must  have 
material  from  the  outside  on  which  to  work,  as  well 
as  the  ordinary  washing  and  ironing  connected  with 
the  average  institution. 

(J)  BRUSHES  AND  BROOMS.  Absolute  elimina- 
tion from  all  institutions  except  those  for  the  blind. 
These  industries  might  have  a  place  in  the  solitary 
confinement  cell.  They  would  serve  as  vocational 
punishment. 

(K)  BREAD  AND  OTHER  BAKERY  PRODUCTS. 
Ice  manufacture  and  other  occupations  most  directly 
concerned  with  the  maintenance  of  the  institution 
need  no  elaboration  beyond  what  has  already  been 
given  in  the  text  preceding  the  enumerated  articles. 


CHAPTER  Vin 
THE  PRISONER  IN  THE  ROAD  CAMP 

BY  CHARLES  HENRY  DAVIS 
President,  National  Highways  Association 


CHAPTER   VIII 
THE  PRISONER  IN  THE  ROAD  CAMP 

"TRUTH  FOR  AUTHORITY,  NOT  AUTHORITY  FOR 
TRUTH" 

I  DO  not  like  the  title  of  my  chapter,  nor  its  limita- 
tions, but  having  enlisted  for  the  war  will  do  the  part 
assigned  by  those  who,  knowing  more,  are  leading  us 
and  our  brothers  to  better  days.  In  doing  so,  how- 
ever, I  shall  not  limit  this  chapter  to  the  chapter 
title.  The  whole  problem  is  too  broad,  too  inter- 
laced for  that.  In  fact  too  new  —  one  might  say  — 
at  least  newly  thought  about  by  thoughtful  people. 

There  is  both  everything  and  nothing  in  a  name 
—  there  is  the  very  beginning  of  our  trouble  in 
getting  a  really  good  start.  How  can  we  get  rid  of 
words  like  "crime  ",  "convict ",  "prisoner  ",  "jail ", 
"cells",  "detention  camps"?  In  one  breath  we 
admit  that  fully  three  fourths  of  our  brothers  are  not 
wholly  responsible,  and  in  the  very  next  treat  them 
as  though  they  were.  Even  "Honor  Men"  does  not 
leave  quite  the  right  feeling.  I  emphasize  the  im- 
portance of  somehow  changing  present  designations 
to  kindlier  ones  that  may  point  to  brighter,  better 
days  instead  of  to  the  evil  ones  of  the  past.  It  will 
take  skill  and  thought  to  do  it  in  manly  fashion  — 

153 


154    THE  PRISON  AND  THE  PRISONER 

but  do  it,  and  we  will  have  a  real  foundation  to  build 
upon.  Give  a  dog  a  bad  name  and  it  is  fastened  to 
him.  But  give  him  a  good  one  and  he  will  keep  that 
as  well.  And  we  want  our  brothers  to  keep  their 
good  names. 

But  there  is  even  more  in  the  spirit  of  our  surround- 
ings, our  environments,  as  the  scientists  say.  Preach- 
ing and  telling  by  word  of  mouth  will  go  for  nought 
if  the  precept,  the  example,  is  lacking.  How  can 
one  expect  improvement  within  a  jail  or  the  cell 
within  the  jail  itself  ?  We  shall  not  rightly  attack  the 
problem  until  we  tear  down  jails  and  destroy  their 
cells.  Such  pest-holes  destroy  our  brothers.  Their 
retention  will  make  all  our  other  efforts  of  no  avail. 

We  should  remember  that  our  brothers  have  only 
made  MISTAKES  like  other  children  before  them, 
like  ourselves,  and  like  those  who  come  next  after 
us  and  them.  They  and  we  are,  after  all,  but 
children  although  grown  in  stature.  While  impor- 
tant, temporarily,  to  apply  scientific  corrective 
methods,  why  not  go  farther  back  and  stop  it  all  at 
the  source  ?  People  of  themselves  are  not  criminal, 
feeble-minded,  imbecile.  Society  is  responsible  in 
the  first  place  for  their  making,  so  why  does  not 
society  stop  such  "products"?  Why  shift  the 
responsibility  upon  the  innocent?  Society  has,  for 
centuries,  manufactured  more  criminals  than  human 
nature  of  its  own  accord  produces.  The  more  for- 
tunate but  not  necessarily  less  criminal,  have  almost 
universally  cruelly  punished  those  less  fortunate 
brothers  caught  in  their  so-called  crimes.  Correc- 
tion, instruction,  forgiveness,  kindness,  have  played 


THE  PRISONER  IN  THE  ROAD  CAMP    155 

but  a  small  part  in  dealing  with  the  "criminal"  or 
"convict."  Would  that  we  might  call  him  by  a 
kindlier  name !  For  many  of  us  now  think  and  talk 
of  him  as  of  a  different  breed,  forgetting  that  he  is, 
after  all,  a  man.  We  cry  out  against  slavery,  yet 
legalize  it  for  tens  of  thousands.  We  scorn  revenge, 
yet  mete  out  vengeance  in  the  name  of  the  law.  We 
remove  from  society  offenders  against  society  and 
forcibly  detain  them  for  years  in  surroundings  as 
much  unlike  real  society  as  possible.  We  then  once 
more  thrust  them  upon  society,  untaught,  revenge- 
ful, weak,  broken  in  mind  and  body,  and  wonder  why 
they  fall  again !  Why  should  they  not  ?  Has  not 
society  done  its  utmost  to  prevent  their  rise  ?  And 
yet  society  places  the  responsibility  upon  these  poor 
unfortunate  beings !  Most  of  them  are  mentally 
deficient  and  should  have  our  care  and  help  —  not 
our  contempt.  Many  of  them  have  been  sorely 
tempted,  without  ability  to  run  from  temptation. 
And  all  of  us  must  run !  Some  have  led  honorable 
and  useful  lives  and  would  continue  to  do  so  did 
society  have  the  forbearance  and  forgiveness  of  the 
parent  toward  the  child.  And  society  should  have 
such  forgiveness,  and  thus  restore  men  to  society 
and  not  brand  them  as  criminals.  Our  modern 
prisons  are  barbaric.  They  typify  the  mediaeval 
prisons  so  loathsome  to  our  imagination,  and  yet 
we  call  them  modern.  They  are  not.  They  still 
hold  men  in  abject  slavery,  in  idleness  worse  than 
death;  without  sun  —  sometimes  without  light; 
with  foul  air  and  fouler  companions.  Does  this 
treatment,  even  of  the  convict,  produce  repentance  ? 


156    THE  PRISON  AND  THE  PRISONER 

No ;  a  thousand  times  no !    Revenge,  insanity,  more 
crime  are  the  inevitable  results. 

As  in  many  other  activities,  our  laws  and  their  ad- 
ministration are  fifty  years  behind  the  times.  Once 
in  prison  how  many  of  us  could  resist  the  debauch- 
ing influences?  How  many  of  us  could  resist  the 
degrading  example  of  those  associates  more  steeped 
in  crime  and  hardened  by  their  previous  contact 
with  still  earlier  criminals  ?  How  many  of  us  could 
return  to  the  life  outside  without  a  feeling  of  bitter- 
ness or  resentment  against  our  whole  social  structure  ? 
We  have  abolished  negro  slavery  —  a  paradise  to  that 
of  criminal  slavery.  We  maintain  institutions  little 
better  than  the  torture  chambers  of  ancient  times. 
They  are  not  designed  for  reform,  tuition,  enlighten- 
ment. They  offer  little  incentive  to  right  living, 
high  ideals.  They  are  not  places  where  erring  hu- 
manity may  be  schooled  and  trained  to  become  good 
citizens.  They  are  more  fit  to  drag  and  trample 
down  into  the  mire  the  unfortunates  sent  there  for 
their  "first  offense."  There  even  plant  life  does  not 
exist.  The  grass,  the  plants,  the  flowers,  the  trees 
do  not  grow  within  their  yards.  How  much  less 
does  man !  Could  there  be  greater  shame  to  our 
nation  than  thus  to  cling  to  the  ancient  custom  of 
depriving  men  of  their  freedom,  shutting  them  up 
within  four  walls,  leaving  them  to  their  fate  ?  "Men 
are  but  children  of  a  larger  growth."  But  do  we 
treat  our  children  in  this  wise  ?  Do  we  not  believe 
in  pointing  out  to  them  and  making  attractive  and 
possible  the  road  to  virtue?  Do  we  rather  enslave 
and  chastise  them  unmercifully  for  having  failed  to 


THE  PRISONER  IN  THE  ROAD  CAMP    157 

find  it    out    for    themselves?    We  used  to,  when 
parents  held  the  lives  of  their  children  in  their  hands. 
The  State  now  so  holds  the  lives  of  its  citizens.* 
When  shall  we  take  such  power  away  ?   In  our  crim-v 
inal  procedure  we  now  have  the  spirit  of  punishment, 
cruelty,  unkindness,  physical  force,  slavery,  confine- 
ment, isolation,  darkness,  silence,  and  all  the  result- 
ant evils  thereof  —  resistance,  revenge,  sullenness, 
depravity,  hopelessness,  insanity. 

We  should  turn  on  the  light ;  we  should  give  men 
the  sunshine,  the  free  air  and  fields  of  the  country. 
We  should  have  and  thus  give  hope,  faith,  help. 
We  should  correct,  not  punish.  We  should  be  kind 
and  fair,  and  our  "pals"  will  respond  most  wonder- 
fully. Children  are  not  controlled  by  physical 
force.  Deliberate,  low-voiced,  firm  kindness  and 
"  square  "  dealing  gain  their  confidence.  So  it  is  with 
their  larger  brothers.  What  results  to  be  attained 
by  such  a  change  —  change  in  our  acknowledg- 
ment of  the  wrongs  we  have  done  to  the  convict ! 
We  have  been  too  long  blind  to  this  wrong  thinking 
and  doing.  We  have  had  too  much  pride,  too  little 
charity.  We  have  admired  too  long  the  public 
prosecutor.  We  have  delayed  too  long  the  coming 
of  the  public  defender. 

How  can  we  do  all  this  ?  We  must  do  something  - 
with  those  who  violate  the  rules.  Yes !  But  that 
something  should  be  to  help  them  not  to  break  the 
rules  again.  Temporary  exile  into  a  temporary  so- 
ciety as  nearly  as  possible  like  normal  society  on 
the  outside  would  seem  the  best  solution.  They 
would  thus  be  learning  to  play  the  game  according 


158    THE  PRISON  AND  THE  PRISONER 

to  the  rules.  Responsibility  during  their  temporary 
exile  would  increase  this  desire  to  play  so  well,  so 
fairly,  that  they  could  go  back  from  whence  they 
came.  To  do  this  we  must  get  them  "Back  to  the 
Land."  But  how  ?  One  way  is  through  the  building 
of  good  roads,  although  some  prefer  railroading ! 

To  have  good  roads  everywhere  throughout  these 
United  States  will  mean  more  to  this  nation  than  any 
other  development  since  the  Declaration  of  Inde- 
pendence. During  all  the  ages  it  has  been  of  primary 
importance  to  provide  means  of  intercommunication. 
People,  like  water,  must  move  or  stagnate.  They 
must  run  and  play  like  the  brook  itself  or  become 
sluggish  and  dull  —  to  themselves  as  well  as  to 
others.  Of  the  seven  modes  of  intercommunication 
—  water,  roads,  post,  railroad,  telegraph,  telephone, 
and  wireless  —  only  one,  roads,  is  free  to  all  the 
public  of  the  earth.  Roads  are  the  most  universally 
used  and  therefore  the  most  beneficial  to  the  greatest 
number  of  people.  The  importance  of  good  roads 
everywhere  is  paramount  —  their  benefits  are  all- 
embracing. 

There  are  eighteen  million  children  who  endeavor 
to  attend  school.  There  are  over  thirty  million  who 
should  attend  school.  Why  don't  they?  Largely 
because  during  much  of  the  school  term  a  consider- 
able part  of  the  two  million  miles  of  our  roads  is 
impassable.  This  is  shown  by  the  fact  that  only 
nine  tenths  of  one  per  cent  (0.9%)  of  the  urban 
white  population  of  the  United  States  of  native 
parentage  is  illiterate,  while  rural  illiteracy  is  six 
hundred  per  cent  greater  in  the  same  class  of  inhabit- 


THE  PRISONER  IN  THE  ROAD  CAMP    159 


ants.  How  can  we  have  or  get  good  schools  in  the 
rural  districts  if  we  have  not  the  good  roads  to  reach 
them  at  all  times  and  in  all  seasons  ?  If  we  do  not 
have  good  schools,  and  illiteracy  results,  then  we 
help,  to  the  greatest  possible  extent,  the  growth 
of  our  criminal  classes. 

The  relation  of  good  and  bad  roads  to  illiteracy 
and  thus  to  crime  is  indicated  by  the  accompanying 
table : 


NATIVE  WHITE  OP 
NATIVE  PARENTAGE 
TOTAL  POPULATION, 
1910 

PER 
CENT 
IM- 
PROVED 
ROADS, 
1909 

PER  CENT   OF  ILLITER- 
ATE NATIVE  WHITES  OP 
NATIVE  PARENTAGE, 
1910 

NEW  ENGLAND 
Maine,    New   Hamp- 
shire, 
Massachusetts,  Rhode 
Island,  Connecticut. 
SOUTH  ATLANTIC 
Delaware,  Maryland, 
Virginia,    West    Vir- 
ginia, North  Carolina, 
South  Carolina, 
Georgia,  Florida. 
PACIFIC 
Washington,   Oregon, 
California. 
WEST  SOUTH  CENTRAL 
Arkansas,    Louisiana, 
Oklahoma,  Texas. 

2,135,801 

22.2 
6.7 

14.2 
2.6 

Total 
0.7 

8.0 

0.4 
5.6 

Urban 
0.5 

2.2 

0.3 
1.4 

Rural 
1.2 

9.8 

0.6 
6.8 

6,552,681 
5,397,864 

12,194,895 
1,684,658 

4,192,304 
4,101,510 

•    8,784,534 

This  table  does  not  of  course  include  foreign  born, 
native  born  of  foreign  parentage,  or  negroes,  all  of 
whom  are  excluded  for  obvious  reasons.  Illiteracy 
is  eleven  times  greater  in  the  South  Atlantic  States 
than  in  New  England,  while  the  percentage  of  im- 


160    THE  PRISON  AND  THE  PRISONER 

proved  roads  (such  as  they  are)  is  less  than  one  third. 
Similar  figures  for  the  Pacific  and  West  South  Central 
are :  fourteen  times  greater  illiteracy,  while  the  per- 
centage of  improved  roads  is  less  than  one  fifth  as 
much.  The  excess  of  illiteracy  over  urban  New 
England  is  only  one  hundred  and  forty  per  cent, 
while  in  the  South  Atlantic  States  this  excess  is  nearly 
four  hundred  per  cent,  due  to  the  lower  percent- 
age of  improved  roads.  This  difference  is  slightly 
greater  in  comparing  the  other  two  groups  in  the 
table. 

The  children  of  to-day  are  the  electors,  the  repre- 
sentatives, the  senators,  the  judges,  one  of  them  the 
President  of  to-morrow.  The  population  is  increas- 
ing by  leaps  and  bounds.  If  education  means 
liberty,  and  if  poor  roads  mean  illiteracy,  or  worse, 
have  we  a  right  not  to  build  good  roads,  even  if  they 
will  not  pay  for  themselves  well  within  the  genera- 
tion which  builds  them? 

To-day  we  have  preventive  medicine.  Instead  of 
waiting  to  cure  people  of  disease,  we  are  bending 
every  effort  to  prevent  disease.  Why  not  profit 
thereby?  Crime  is  a  kind  of  disease.  Why  not  do 
those  things  which  will  prevent  crime?  Idleness 
more  than  any  other  one  thing,  produces  moral 
deterioration  and  crime.  The  building  of  good  roads 
everywhere  by  the  nation,  the  State,  the  town,  will 
give  constant  employment  to  the  army  of  unem- 
ployed. This  will  tend  to  prevent  crime  if  we  apply 
it  rightly. 

What  better  thing  than  to  employ  those  tem- 
porarily withdrawn  from  our  society  in  the  building 


THE  PRISONER  IN  THE  ROAD  CAMP    161 

of  good  roads  everywhere  ?  It  will  give  brawn,  brain, 
and  heart  to  those  most  needing  them.  It  will  give 
freedom  of  mind  and  body.  It  will  give  them  in- 
spiration, hope.  Tear  down  our  prison  walls,  and 
rear  no  more,  for  they  are  festering  places  for  our 
fellow  beings.  Let  us  no  longer  go  back  on  those  of 
our  kind !  Let  us  rather,  from  now  on,  give  our 
"pals"  a  "square  deal"  !  We  can  be  sure  they  will 
answer  in  kind ! 

EDITOR'S  NOTE  :  —  The  methods  of  organizing  and  operating  convict 
road  camps  are  fully  discussed  in  the  following  theses  prepared  under 
the  joint  direction  of  the  National  Committee  on  Prisons  and  Prison 
Labor  and  the  Graduate  Department  of  Highway  Engineering  at 
Columbia  University :  "  The  Utilization  of  Convict  Labor  in  Highway 
Construction  in  the  North  ",  by  Sydney  Wilmot  (published  in  the  Pro- 
ceedings of  the  Academy  of  Political  Science,  January,  1914) ;  "  The 
Utilization  of  Convict  Labor  in  Highway  Construction  in  the  South  ". 
by  James  Wilmot ;  "  Convict  Road  Work  for  Misdemeanant  Prisoners  ", 
by  James  L.  Stamford;  also  in  Bulletin  No.  414  of  the  United  States 
Department  of  Agriculture,  "  Convict  Labor  for  Road  Work." 


CHAPTER  IX 
THE  UNION  MAN  AND  THE  PRISONER 

BY  COLLIS  LOVELY 
Vice  President,  International  Boot  and  Shoe  Workers'  Union 


CHAPTER  IX 
THE  UNION  MAN  AND  THE  PRISONER 

THE  attitude  of  the  union  man  towards  the  worker 
in  prison  has  been  misunderstood,  misrepresented, 
and  misinterpreted  to  such  an  extent  that  it  seems 
advisable  to  sketch  its  development  in  order  to  point 
the  determining  factor  —  active  opposition  to  the  •* 
exploitation  of  the  prisoner  in  defiance  of  his  rights 
and  those  of  the  public. 

The  type  of  prison  which  we  have  to-day  was  de- 
vised by  the  good  Quakers  of  Pennsylvania  at  the 
close  of  the  Revolutionary  War.  Solitary  confine- 
ment in  a  cell  with  time  to  meditate  and  pray  was 
the  means,  they  believed,  to  overcome  the  horrors 
of  herding  men,  women,  and  children  in  filthy  prison 
pens  as  depicted  by  John  Howard  and  Elizabeth 
Fry.  The  Pennsylvania  system,  as  it  came  to  be 
known,  was  taken  over  by  New  York  State  in  1796 
when  Newgate  Prison  was  built  in  New  York  City.1 
Auburn  Prison  was  built  some  years  later,  the  Penn- 
sylvania plan  being  modified  by  the  creation  of 
workshops  where  the  prisoners  could  work  together, 
returning  to  solitude  in  their  cells  when  working 
hours  were  over.  Sing  Sing,  built  in  1827,  followed 
the  Auburn  plan,  and  since  that  time  practically 

1  Charles  Richmond  Henderson,  "  Modern  Prison  Systems." 
165 


166    THE  PRISON  AND  THE  PRISONER 

all  the  Northern  States  and  a  goodly  number  in  the 
South  have  built  one  or  more  of  these  bastile  prisons 
and  the  factory  work  has  become  a  vital  part  of  the 
prison  system. 

The  New  York  law  of  1796  authorized  the  inspec- 
tors of  State  prisons  to  employ  the  prisoners  in  such 
a  manner  as  they  deemed  best  and  "accredit  them 
for  their  labor  as  they  shall  deem  just  and  right."  1 

The  words  "just  and  right"  in  the  law  are  a  mock- 
ery for,  even  in  those  early  days,  the  labor  of  the 
prisoner  was  exploited  and  the  products  of  his  labor 
placed  in  unfair  competition  with  those  of  the  free 
working  man.  Efforts  to  restrict  the  evil  effects 
of  this  unfair  competition  appear  in  the  New  York 
Statutes  in  1801  when  provision  was  made  that  boots 
and  shoes  made  by  convicts  should  be  branded 
"prison  made."  2 

Branding  was  the  earliest  mode  of  protection  and 
was  followed  by  such  schemes  as  limiting  the  number 
of  prisoners  employed  in  one  industry,  instanced 
by  the  New  York  legislation  of  1804,  which  prohib- 
ited the  employment  of  more  than  one  eighth  of  the 
prisoners  in  the  business  of  shoe-making ;  this  one 
eighth  not  to  include  women  and  men  whp  had 
formerly  learned  the  trade. 

A  further  effort  to  restrain  the  unfair  competition 
would  seem  to  have  inspired  the  legislation  of  1817 
restricting  the  purchase  by  the  State  of  any  materials 
"to  be  wrought  or  worked  up  for  sale  by  the  convicts 

1  C.  Z.  Lincoln.    "Constitutional  History  of  New  York  State",  Vol. 
Ill,  pp.  249,  252. 

2  C.  Z.  Lincoln.    "  Constitutional  History  of  New  York  State  ",  Vol. 
Ill,  p.  249. 


THE  UNION  MAN  AND  THE  PRISONER  167 

confined  in  the  State  Prison  on  account  of  the  State, 
but  to  employ  them  solely  in  manufacturing  and 
making  up  such  materials  as  may  be  brought  to  the 
prison  by  or  for  individuals  or  companies  to  whom 
such  materials  may  belong  to  be  manufactured  at 
fixed  prices  for  the  labor  bestowed  upon  them,  to  be 
paid  by  the  owner  of  the  goods  to  the  agent  of  the 
prison  for  the  use  of  the  State."  l 

Further  consideration  would  point  to  this  as  an 
insidious  creeping  in  of  the  Contract  System  rather 
than  a  means  of  protecting  free  workers.  The 
Contract  System,  which  Doctor  Whitin  discusses  in 
detail  in  "Penal  Servitude",2  was  firmly  established 
in  New  York  State  in  1828  when  the  inspectors  of  the 
prisons  were  authorized  to  make  contracts  from  time 
to  time  for  the  labor  of  the  convicts  "with  such  per- 
sons and  upon  such  terms  as  may  be  most  beneficial 
to  the  State."  3  The  inspectors  were  also  instructed 
to  defray  all  the  expenses  of  the  prisons  by  the  labor 
of  the  prisoners.  In  brief,  it  was  ordained  that  the 
prisons  should  be  self-supporting  without  any  con- 
sideration as  to  the  effect  on  the  prison  workmen  or 
the  laborers  outside  the  prison. 

The  Contract  System  was  sooner  or  later  adopted 
in  every  bastile  prison,  the  alternative  when  there 
were  no  bastiles  being  the  lease  system  which  Doctor 
Lucile  Eaves  has  described  as  it  existed  in  California 
prior  to  the  erection  of  San  Quentin  Prison : 

1  C.  Z.  Lincoln.     "  Constitutional  History  of  New  York  State  ",  Vol. 
Ill,  p.  249. 

2  E.  Stagg  Whitin.    "Penal  Servitude."    C.  3-5. 

3  C.  Z.  Lincoln.    "Constitutional  History  of  New  York  State  ",  VoL 
HI,  p.  256. 


168    THE  PRISON  AND  THE  PRISONER 

"  The  first  plan  adopted  for  the  regulation  of  the 
State  Prison,"  Doctor  Eaves  states,  "had  nothing 
to  recommend  it  but  its  cheapness.  The  whole  re- 
sponsibility of  caring  for  the  prisoners  and  finding 
them  employment  was  turned  over  to  the  lessees. 
Two  men  undertook  to  guard  and  maintain  the  con- 
victs of  the  State  without  other  compensation  than 
that  which  they  hoped  to  take  from  their  labor.  As 
might  be  expected  this  plan  under  which  the  State 
sought  to  shirk  its  responsibilities  for  the  manage- 
ment of  the  State  prison  worked  very  badly  —  while 
the  prison  inspectors  were  not  explicit  in  their  report 
of  conditions,  the  distressing  details  which  must 
have  called  forth  their  general  remarks  are  easily 
imagined.  They  declared  the  State  Prison  of  Cali- 
fornia, as  it  now  exists,  is  no  paradise  for  scoundrels. 
It  is  a  real  penitentiary  —  a  place  of  suffering  and 
expiation  —  of  these  there  is  abundance,  with  priva- 
tions and  corporal  punishment." 1 

These  labor  systems,  both  contract  and  lease,  were 
brutal  and  degrading  to  the  prisoner,  the  contractor 
or  lessee  seeking  only  the  greatest  pecuniary  profit 
from  his  undertaking  and  caring  nothing  for  the 
welfare  of  the  inmates. 

Their  effect  outside  the  prison  was  equally  disas- 
trous. Employers  in  similar  lines  of  industry  were 
placed  at  a  disadvantage,  not  so  much  because  of  the 
quantity  produced  by  the  prisons  as  because  the 
contractors  were  able  to  circularize  the  market  at  a 
low  figure,  setting  the  selling  price  of  the  product  so 
low  that  even  if  it  did  not  entirely  ruin  the  employer 
of  free  labor  it  had  a  depressing  effect  which  bore 

1Lucile  Eaves.  "California  Labor  Legislation"  (University  of 
California  Publications  in  Economics),  Vol.  II,  p.  353. 


THE  UNION  MAN  AND  THE  PRISONER  169 

down  upon  the  wages  of  the  free  working  man.  In 
several  instances  the  prison  contractors  concentrated 
upon  one  line  of  industry  with  the  result  that  that 
industry  was  destroyed  as  a  free  industry.  Samuel 
Gompers  frequently  refers  to  the  time  in  New  York 
State  when  the  stove  molders  who  were  not  serving 
a  term  in  prison  and  working  at  their  trade  there  were 
walking  the  streets  in  idleness.1 

The  mechanics  of  the  State  of  New  York  were 
active  against  the  prison  competition  as  early  as 
1831  when  protest  was  made  to  the  legislature  against 
the  suffering  endured  by  outside  working  men  because 
of  the  marble  cutting  and  iron  industries  in  the  prison.2 

The  history  of  the  labor  movement  in  the  different 
States  disclosed  a  similar  struggle  against  the  unfair 
competition  resulting  from  the  labor  of  the  prisoner. 

Connecticut,  Indiana,  Maine,  Maryland,  Massa- 
chusetts, and  New  York  prohibit  the  manufacture 
of  certain  articles  in  the  prison.  Massachusetts, 
Minnesota,  Pennsylvania,  and  Ohio  limited  the  num- 
ber of  convicts  in  any  one  line  of  industry.  Illinois, 
Indiana,  and  Pennsylvania  forbade  the  use  of  ma- 
chinery in  the  prison.3 

These  efforts  were  fruitless,  for  if  the  prison  out- 
put in  any  line  of  industry  were  checked  in  one  State, 
it  was  sure  to  increase  in  another. 

The  organization  of  the  Knights  of  Labor  in  1869 
made  possible  national  concerted  action  against  the 

Address  before  the  Executive  Committee  of  the  Mutual  Welfare 
League,  Sing  Sing  Prison,  July  29,  1916. 

2  C.  Z.  Lincoln.  "Constitutional  History  of  New  York  State  ",  Vol. 
Ill,  p.  257. 

8  E.  Stagg  Whitin.    "The  Caged  Man  ",  p.  40. 


170    THE  PRISON  AND  THE  PRISONER 

pernicious  Contract  System.  The  first  platform  of 
the  Knights  contains  the  clause : 

"Resolved  that  we  demand  the  abolishment  of  the 
system  of  contract  labor  in  our  prisons  and  peniten- 
tiaries and  that  the  labor  performed  by  convicts 
shall  be  that  which  will  least  conflict  with  honest 
industry  outside."  1 

The  chief  evidence  of  the  activity  of  the  Knights 
is  found  in  the  enactment  of  legislation,  requiring 
that  prison-made  goods  be  branded  "Prison-made" 
or  a  license  required  for  their  sale.  At  the  present 
time  such  laws  are  on  the  statute  books  of  New  York 
and  some  twelve  other  States,  but  have  failed  to  meet 
the  situation  in  that  they  are  impossible  of  enforce- 
ment, having  been  declared  unconstitutional  when- 
ever tested  by  the  courts.2 

The  first  suggestion  that  this  difficulty  should  be 
overcome  by  federal  legislation  was  made  in  1886 
by  the  National  Anti-Contract  Association,  an  asso- 
ciation organized  to  protect  the  market  by  curtailing 
the  contractor's  ability  to  sell  his  goods.3 

The  proposal  made  by  the  Anti-Contract  Associa- 
tion was  indorsed  by  the  Industrial  Commission  of 
1900  which  states  that  "it  seems  clear  that  Congress 
should  legislate  to  prevent  the  importation  and  sale 
of  convict-made  goods  from  one  state  into  another 
without  the  consent  of  the  state  into  which  the  goods 
are  imported  or  where  they  are  sold."  4 

1  Carroll  D.  Wright,  "Historical  Sketch  of  the  Knights  of  Labor." 

2  157  N.  Y.  1,  People  v.  Hawkins ;  see  also  Bulletin  New  York  State 
Department  of  Labor,  March,  1910,  p.  58. 

3  E.  Stagg  Whitin,  "Penal  Servitude",  p.  92. 

4  Report  of  the  Industrial  Commission  on  Labor  Legislation,  Vol.  5,  p.  6. 


THE  UNION  MAN  AND  THE  PRISONER  171 

Through  the  efforts  of  organized  labor,  a  bill  was 
drafted  embodying  this  thought  and  introduced  and 
reintroduced  into  Congress.  Several  times  it  has 
passed  the  House  and  in  1914  was  favorably  reported 
by  the  Senate  Committee  on  Interstate  Commerce. 
The  prison  contractors  and  wardens  have  persist- 
ently opposed  the  measure,  the  methods  to  which 
they  resorted  being  exposed  in  the  report  made  by 
the  Maryland  Penal  Penitentiary  Commission  in 
1913  to  the  Honorable  Phillips  L.  Goldsborough, 
Governor  of  Maryland.1 

The  attitude  of  the  present  administration  would 
point  to  favorable  action  towards  the  measure  should 
it  once  succeed  in  passing  Congress,2  and  that  its 
passage  would  be  effective  in  overcoming  the  evils 
of  the  Contract  System  is  evidenced  by  the  fact  that 
many  contracts  provide  that  on  its  passage  they  shall 
immediately  become  null  and  void.3 

Restrictive  legislation  has  not  been  the  only  means 
suggested  by  organized  labor  for  solving  the  prison 
labor  problem;  to  union  men  is  due  the  credit  for 
the  first  constructive  scheme  for  the  distribution  of 
prison  products. 

Into  the  constitution  of  New  York  State  in  1894, 
and  largely  through  the  efforts  of  labor  men  who  con- 

1  Report  of  the  Maryland  Penitentiary  Penal  Commission,  1913,  pp. 
130-137. 

2  The  bill  abolishing  the  Contract  System  in  New  Jersey  was  signed  in 
1911  by  Honorable  Woodrow  Wilson,  at  the  time  Governor  of  the  State; 
also  the  National  Democratic  Platform,  1916,  declared  in  favor  of  prison 
reform. 

3  See  contracts,  Maryland  House  of  Correction,  cited  "Penal  Servi- 
tude", appendix  1,  pp.  115-117. 


172    THE  PRISON  AND  THE  PRISONER 

ceived  the  idea,  was  written  a  provision  that  no 
prison  product  should  be  sold  on  the  open  market, 
but  setting  aside  for  these  products  the  market  in  the 
State's  own  institutions  and  departments  and  those 
of  its  political  subdivisions,  which  were  forbidden 
to  buy  on  the  open  market  commodities  which  the 
prisons  could  supply.1 

This  system,  known  as  the  "State  Use"  System, 
has  been  slow  to  develop,  largely  due  to  the  in- 
fluence of  those  who  had  profited  by  the  old-time 
Contract  System  and  were  determined  to  reinstate 
it.2 

Another  factor,  as  Thomas  Mott  Osborne  has 
pointed  out,  is  that  "slave  labor  is  inefficient  labor  ",3 
and  the  prisoners  themselves,  having  no  incentive  to 
efficient  work,  have  taken  care  that  the  State  make 
as  little  as  possible  out  of  them. 

With  the  introduction  of  self-government  a  new 
day  dawned  for  prison  industries.  The  prisoners 
now  desire  to  "make  good"  when  they  leave  the 
prison  and  realize  the  advantage  to  themselves  in 
the  ability  to  do  a  good  day's  work  and  earn  a  good 
day's  pay.  The  increased  output  of  the  prison 
shops  at  Sing  Sing  since  the  introduction  of  self- 
government  bears  testimony  to  their  new  ambition.4 

JC.  Z.  Lincoln,  "Constitutional  History  of  New  York  State",  Vol. 
Ill,  p.  287. 

2  Final  Report  of  the  Commissioners  to  examine  the  Department  of 
State  Prisons,  New  York,  1911. 

3  Thomas  Mott  Osborne,  "Prison  Reform",  an  address  delivered  in 
Bridgeport,  Conn.,  Feb.  28,  1915. 

4  William  H.  Wadhams,  "The  New  Prison  System"  (published  by 
National  Committee  on  Prisons  and  Prison  Labor,  Pamphlet  36). 


THE  UNION  MAN  AND  THE  PRISONER    173 

Labor  men  noted  this  new  activity  in  the  prison 
industries,  and  Thomas  Mott  Osborne  had  not  been 
many  months  warden  of  Sing  Sing  before  a  repre- 
sentative group  of  labor  men,  headed  by  Samuel 
Gompers,  visited  the  institution  and  offered  to  help 
in  the  reorganization  of  the  prison  industries.  The 
attack  on  Mr.  Osborne  delayed  the  work  for  a  year, 
but  at  the  annual  meeting  of  the  New  York  State 
Federation  of  Labor  in  October,  1916,  definite  action 
was  taken  when  a  committee  was  named  "to  devise 
a  system  of  welfare  craft  instruction  for  state  prison 
inmates  learning  trades." 

John  J.  Manning,  the  moving  spirit  in  this  under- 
taking, prepared  for  the  Federation  a  comprehensive 
scheme  for  the  reorganization  of  the  prison  industries 
of  the  State,  which  the  Federation  Committee 
adopted  and  is  presenting  to  the  prison  authorities 
and  the  people  of  the  State.  It  seems  fitting  here 
to  outline  the  plan  which  Mr.  Manning  proposed 
and  which,  by  the  action  of  its  committee,  the 
Federation  indorsed  as  essential  to  the  establish- 
ment of  a  satisfactory  and  efficient  system  of  prison 
industries : 

On  commitment  all  prisoners  should  pass  through 
a  receiving  station  in  order  that  their  physical, 
mental,  and  industrial  qualifications  can  be  deter- 
mined ;  as  a  result  of  this  study  they  should  be  as- 
signed to  industrial  work. 

A  survey  of  all  the  buildings  connected  with  the 
penal  institutions  of  the  state  should  be  made  to 
determine  their  physical  condition  and  for  what 
industries  they  can  best  be  used  as  now  constructed, 
also  whether  changes  are  necessary  in  the  construe- 


174    THE  PRISON  AND  THE  PRISONER 

tion  of  these  buildings  and  whether  new  buildings 
should  be  erected. 

A  Board  of  Classification  and  Standardization 
should  be  established  and  empowered  to  standardize 
and  classify  the  commodities  consumed  in  the  dif- 
ferent state  institutions  for  a  period  of  not  less  than 
ten  years.  The  prison  industries  could  then  be 
placed  on  a  sound  working  basis,  and  the  market  for 
the  prison  products  being  assured,  the  prison  author- 
ities would  be  warranted  in  preparing  a  stock  of  goods 
for  immediate  delivery.  This  would  prevent  many 
of  the  manipulations  of  the  law  at  present  made  by 
state  departments  in  regard  to  the  purchase  of  prison- 
made  goods. 

The  prison  industries  should  be  as  diversified  as 
possible,  in  order  that  the  training  afforded  a  prisoner 
may  tend  to  meet  his  individual  needs.  This  will 
also  tend  to  restrict  the  number  of  men  in  each  in- 
dustry so  that  on  discharge  a  man  can  be  assimilated 
readily  in  the  trade  in  which  he  has  become  proficient 
while  in  prison. 

Outdoor  work  should  be  provided  on  prison  farms, 
in  road-building  and  on  public  works.  The  road 
work  should  be  coordinated  with  a  comprehensive 
system  for  the  building  of  roads  throughout  the  state, 
and  the  farm  work  afford  opportunity  for  agricultural 
training  to  men  who  will  become  farmers  on  release. 

Skilled  and  practical  teachers  or  instructors  should 
be  secured  for  every  industry,  farm  project  or  road 
undertaking  and  these  instructors  should  be  disas- 
sociated with  politics  in  every  sense  of  the  word. 
It  should  be  the  aim  of  the  institutions  to  turn  out 
not  a  vast  number  of  products,  but  good  marketable 
articles  which  state  institutions  will  willingly  pur- 
chase and  which  will  compete  on  a  fair  basis  with 
goods  made  by  free  labor. 

A  wage  should  be  paid  commensurate  with  the 
work  done  by  the  prisoner.  This  will  insure  two 


THE  UNION  MAN  AND  THE  PRISONER   175 

decided  advantages  :  a  higher  grade  of  workmanship, 
every  industry  having  demonstrated  that  contented 
workmen  do  better  work;  and  the  incentive  which 
will  stimulate  the  man  who  knows  that  those  near 
and  dear  to  him  benefit  by  his  labor. 

Organized  labor  has  answered  the  challenge  that 
it  seeks  to  prohibit  labor  in  the  prison.  Labor  men 
opposed  the  exploitation  of  the  prisoner  under  the 
lease  and  contract  system.  Labor  men  devised  the 
"state  use"  system  which  affords  opportunity  to  the 
prisoner  and  fair  play  to  him  and  to  the  free  working 
man.  To-day  labor  men  present  and  stand  firmly 
behind  a  broad  constructive  program  for  the  develop- 
ment of  prison  industries  on  a  right  basis.  And, 
furthermore,  if  the  prisoner  will  seize  his  opportunity 
and  develop  himself  to  union  standards  on  his  release 
we  will  receive  him  into  the  Union  and  afford  him 
the  protection,  the  fellowship  of  the  union  group.1 

1  Statement  made  by  John  J.  Manning  at  Conference  at  Sing  Sing 
Prison,  July  29,  1915. 


CHAPTER  X 
THE  MAN  WHO   COMES  OUT  OF  PRISON 

BY  R.  J.  CALDWELL 

Chairman,  Committee  on  Employment,  National  Committee  on  Prisons  and 
Prison  Labor 


CHAPTER  X 

THE   MAN   WHO   COMES   OUT   OF   PRISON 

THOUSANDS  of  boys  leave  the  reform  schools 
and  reformatories  of  this  country  every  year. 
Thousands  of  them  find  their  way  back  to  the  courts 
and  on  to  the  penitentiaries  and  State  prisons. 
Thousands  of  the  men  in  the  State  prisons,  and  who 
come  out  year  by  year,  will  tell  you  that  they  began 
their  life  of  crime  in  a  reform  school  or  other  juvenile 
institution.  It  is  an  endless  chain. 

In  the  city  of  Baltimore  an  illegitimate  child  is 
placed  on  the  turning  wheel  and  enters  the  foundling 
institution ;  at  eight  he  is  transferred  to  the  indus- 
trial school,  and  at  fourteen  is  graduated  into  the 
reformatory  end  of  the  industrial  school.  At  eight- 
een he  graduates,  trained  in  a  trade  at  which  only 
women  work,  unable  to  get  a  job.  He  is  picked 
up  on  the  street  and  sent  to  the  city  jail  for  a  term, 
and  again  works  at  the  woman's  trade.  Upon 
graduation  from  this  pest-hole,  he  is  no  better  off 
than  before.  He  is  picked  up  again,  goes  to  the 
workhouse  to  continue  his  education  in  the  same 
woman's  trade.  Several  years  later  he  finds  him- 
self again  released.  He  is  skilled  in  a  trade  profit- 
able to  the  penal  institutions.  The  governor  "  for- 

179 


180    THE  PRISON  AND  THE  PRISONER 

mally  notifies  the  justices  that  they  must  send  as 
many  convicts  as  possible  to  the  House  of  Cor- 
rection because  of  the  need  of  keeping  good  faith 
with  the  contractors  at  the  institution." 1  The 
Governor  of  one  of  our  Western  States  found  the 
contractors  following  up  just  such  cases,  framing  them 
and  returning  them  to  the  prison.2  What  chance  has 
our  "graduate"  to  get  an  honest  job?  Once  in  the 
State  prison  his  skill  is  valuable ;  he  works  at  the  old 
trade,  but  when  he  graduates  at  the  end  of  four, 
five,  or  ten  years  is  it  strange  that  he  soon  returns  ? 
Some  men  have  a  chance  when  they  get  out  of 
prison  —  a  chance  to  commit  again  the  crime  for 
which  they  entered  prison.  They  have  protection 
in  their  life  of  crime.  The  only  requisite  is  the 
guarantee  of  the  old  gang  to  the  politicians  that 
they  will  be  on  the  level  with  their  pals,  and  if  the 
politicians  will  control  the  police  and  the  court, 
they  will  control  the  elections  by  casting  fraudulent 
votes,  as  my  friend  Jim  did  thirty  times  one  elec- 
tion day,  and  in  return  was  allowed  to  continue 
his  old  life  unmolested.  Every  clever  man  coming 
from  prison  to  a  great  city  like  New  York  has  this 
opportunity.  Is  it  to  be  wondered  when  he  sees 
all  around  him  political  corruption,  in  prison  and 
out,  that  he  takes  the  chance  and  continues  in  the 
old  life? 

1  See  "  Report  on   the    House   of    Correction,  Jessup,   Maryland, 
Made  by  the  National  Committee  on   Prison  Labor,   November   1st, 
1911",  to  the  Board  of  Managers,  House  of  Correction.     Published  in 
"Penal  Servitude",  Appendix  1. 

2  As  stated  in  correspondence  with  the  National  Committee  on  Prison 
Labor,  1912. 


MAN  WHO  COMES  OUT  OF  PRISON    181 

Should  he  desire  to  go  straight  let  us  see  what 
the  struggle  is.  Pale  and  emaciated,  garbed  in  an 
ill-fitting  suit  of  prison  make  and  of  a  material 
which  every  detective  knows  at  sight,  with  carfare 
to  the  place  of  conviction  and  five  or  ten  dollars  to 
boot,  this  wreck  of  humanity  faces  the  problem  of 
readjusting  his  life  to  a  community  which  he  has 
left  five,  ten,  or  twenty  years  before,  with  former 
friends  who  shun  him,  with  employment  agencies 
which  refuse  to  assist  him,  with  police  who  dog  his 
steps.  He  spends  the  night  under  the  shelter  of  a 
sister's  roof.  Some  crime  takes  place  in  the  vicinity. 
The  police  arrest  him,  and  he  is  taken  to  the  lock-up. 
He  avoids  conviction  and  starts  again.  He  secures 
a  small  job  of  a  menial  type  and  gets  a  little  money 
ahead.  He  is  visited  by  a  member  of  the  old  gang. 
"Come  back  to  the  Gang"  is  the  demand.  He 
refuses.  "Give  up  your  money,  or  the  boss  will 
know  you  are  a  Con!"  The  problem  is  to  decide 
between  the  old  life  of  crime,  the  payment  of  black- 
mail, or  the  loss  of  the  job.  There  is  no  protection 
except  to  the  evildoer. 

Yet  society  has  thought  that  it  did  its  duty  towards 
the  man  who  comes  out  of  prison.  Humane  people 
possessed  of  human  sympathy  have  established 
Prisoners'  Aid  Societies,  have  given  old  clothes  and 
wood-yard  jobs  to  the  ex-convict  and  his  family 
since  the  founding  of  the  Pennsylvania  Prison  Society 
in  1787  to  the  present  day.  These  efforts  have  been 
fruitless.  The  old  prison  system  with  its  oppres- 
sion, cells,  clubs,  guards,  and  chains,  so  brutalized 
the  creatures  that  endured  it  that,  in  the  majority 


182    THE  PRISON  AND  THE  PRISONER 

of  cases,  they  remained  permanently  in  the  criminal 
class,  living  half  in  prison  and  half  out,  half  their 
time  denouncing  society,  and  half  their  time  wreak- 
ing vengeance  upon  society. 

Prisoners'  Aid  Societies  have  been  profitable 
even  to  those  whose  salaries  were  not  paid  by  Prison- 
ers' Aid  Societies.  Hysterical  furor,  temporary 
"clean-ups'',  exposure  of  petty  graft,  the  tickling 
of  the  sensibilities  of  lady  bountiful  and  pardoning 
the  noisy  to  the  despair  of  the  deserving  prisoner 
for  the  special  gratification  of  an  administration  or 
a  statesman,  mark  an  emotional  wave  and  little, 
if  any,  real  progress. 

Can  opportunity  be  given  the  ex-prisoner  to  makev 
a  place,  an  honest  place  for  himself,  in  the  world 
outside  the  prison?     If  so,  what  is  the  approach? 
How  can  he  be  so  protected  that  society  itself  is 
protected  ? 

The  first  approach  lies  in  the  prison;  the  initial 
work  must  be  done  there.  The  so-called  Mutual 
Welfare  System  is  a  very  simple  expedient  whereby 
the  individuals  we  find  in  prison  can  express  the 
best  that  there  is  in  them,  can  improve  their  own 
conditions  by  consorting  with  others  who  are  sit-* 
uated  like  themselves  and  can  demonstrate  to  the 
unconvicted  community  that  despite  the  accident 
of  their  incarceration  they  have  the  ability  to  over- 
come evil  propensities  with  good,  and  to  conduct 
themselves  according  to  the  dictates  of  societyl 
Ball  games,  concerts,  plays,  the  workshops,  the 
schoolroom  classes,  sociability  in  the  mess-hall, 
the  prisoners'  court,  are  simply  the  necessary  ad- 


MAN  WHO  COMES  OUT  OF  PRISON    183 

juncts   to   a   suppressed   community    which   seeks 
self-expression,  self-respect. 

Those  who  fail  in  this  community  life,  and  no 
one  expects  that  number  will  be  small,  will  need  to 
be  brought  by  their  fellows  to  medical  and  psy- 
chiatrical specialists.  The  prison  community  must 
see  to  it  that  those  who  cannot  meet  its  standards- 
are  not  permitted  to  rejoin  the  community  outside 
the  prison.  The  first  step  must  be  taken  in  the 
prison  and  only  the  man  who  has  "made  good" 
in  the  prison  be  permitted  to  leave  the  prison  walls. 

The  men  emerging  from  prison,  whose  relations 
have  been  right  with  their  fellows  in  the  institution, 
possess  a  new  idea,  a  new  thought  of  opportunity, 
and  they  carry  the  germ  of  this  to  the  larger  com- 
munity they  enter;  no  longer  do  they  carry  forth 
the  germs  of  crime,  of  vengeance,  and  skill  in  exploit- 
ing the  community. 

The  new  prison  movement  is  reaching  beyond 
the  ex-prisoners  to  their  fellows  in  the  underworld, 
to  the  lowest  strata  of  our  social  structure.  Peter 
Cullen,  a  member  of  the  Mutual  Welfare  League, 
escaped  from  Sing  Sing  Prison  and  for  several  weeks 
no  clue  could  be  had  as  to  his  whereabouts.  Sud- 
denly one  day  Peter  notified  Thomas  Mott  Osborne 
that  he  was  voluntarily  returning  to  the  prison  be- 
cause his  pals  urged  him  not  to  betray  the  League. 
Peter's  pals  had  felt  the  spirit  of  the  new  move- 
ment and  responded  to  it  in  their  own  crude  way. 

The  change  that  is  taking  place  in  the  roots  of 
our  civilization  is  hard  to  describe  as  we  know  so 
little  of  real  underworld  conditions,  but  in  brief, 


184    THE  PRISON  AND  THE  PRISONER 

the  tyranny  of  the  police,  the  exploitation  by  fellow- 
criminals,  the  subtle  influence  of  the  politicians,  are 
passing.  The  underworld  is  responding  to  the  op- 
portunity for  freedom  and  protection  in  that  free- 
dom —  "free  to  do  right"  is  fast  becoming  a  reality. 

.  The  movement  must  spread  to  the  upper  strata, 
the  well-to-do  must  learn  how  to  regard,  how  to 
meet  the  man  who  has  been  in  prison.  They  must 
learn  to  eschew  charity,  to  refuse  to  patronize,  to 
demonstrate  that  democracy  is  a  vital  thing,  the 
dominant  factor  in  the  life  of  the  nation. 

Protection  to  the  man  coming  out  of  prison,  pro- 
tection to  do  right,  is  the  great  new  thought.  We 
have  shown  that,  when  released  under  the  new  sys- 
tem, the  ex-prisoner  will  have  a  guarantee  of  physi- 
cal health,  normal  mentality,  and  industrial  ability 
sufficient  for  self-support.  This  guarantee  makes 
possible  the  protection  to  the  worker  of  the  union 
organization  in  his  particular  line,  and  the  group 
power  of  the  honest  working  man  can  be  substi- 
tuted for  the  group  influence  of  the  crooked  gang  — 
even  the  unorganized  trades  have  their  social  clubs 
or  other  agencies  with  which  the  ex-prisoner  can  be 
associated.  His  great  need  is  to  be  connected  up 
with  these  outside  agencies. 

To  connect  the  ex-prisoner  with  these  agencies 
for  good,  to  open  up  for  him  a  job  which  corresponds 
to  the  work  he  has  successfully  carried  on  in  prison, 
is  the  task  of  those  who  would  really  help.  This 
is  equally  true  in  regard  to  the  graduate  from  a 
reform  school,  a  reformatory,  or  a  State  prison; 
the  emphasis  is  not  on  the  place  from  which  the 


MAN  WHO  COMES  OUT  OF  PRISON    185 

man  has  come  but  on  that  to  which  he  is  going.  The 
person  who  would  make  this  connection  should 
be  informed  well  in  advance  from  the  prison ;  when 
a  man  will  be  released,  what  his  trade  is  and  his 
ability  in  this  trade,  what  social  or  religious  activ- 
ities he  would  seek,  what  weaknesses  he  needs  to 
fear  and  wherein  his  ambition  lies.  The  man  who 
welcomes  the  ex-prisoner  to  the  world  outside,  who 
introduces  him  to  his  new  life,  needs  a  sympathetic 
understanding  of  the  very  soul  of  the  man,  yet  must 
have  a  practical  working  knowledge  of  the  world 
into  which  the  man  is  going  and  be  big  enough  and 
broad  enough  to  be  the  "pal",  not  patron.  Then, 
and  then  only,  can  the  day  of  release  from  prison 
be  divorced  from  the  old  thought  of  despair  and 
possess  the  hope  which  comes  from  the  sense  of  safety 
and  protection  secured  by  a  drawing  together  of 
the  forces  of  community  life  which  are  uplifting 
society. 

The  ex-prisoner  himself  has  no  mean  part  to  play 
in  this  work.  He  it  is  who  can  best  welcome  the 
newly  released  prisoner  when  he  comes  to  the  social 
center,  the  church,  or  the  union.  He  it  is  who 
knows  the  heart-burning.  He  it  is  who  knows 
the  true  friends  who  will  help.  It  is  the  same  ex- 
prisoner  who  can  do  most  for  the  graduate  of  the 
juvenile  institution  or  the  wayward  boy  in  the 
community.  He  is  no  mollycoddle,  he  has  known 
life,  he  has  been  the  outlaw,  has  lived  through  real 
temptation  and  understands  the  forces  which  appeal 
to  the  restless  spirit  of  youth.  His  warning,  his 
quiet  suggestion,  his  reproof,  have  a  subtle  influence. 


186    THE  PRISON  AND  THE  PRISONER 

The  test  of  any  prison  system  is  the  man  who  is 
released  from  prison ;  his  after  life  will  demonstrate 
the  practicability,  the  reality  of  any  prison  reform. 
From  the  ex-prisoner  will  come  suggestions  as  to 
what  he  has  found  most  difficult  to  withstand,  as 
to  where  the  new  movement  can  be  strengthened 
and  made  more  effective.  The  "follow-up"  work 
has  a  vital  bearing  on  the  whole  prison  problem, 
how  great  a  bearing  we  can  hardly  realize ;  it  is  too 
early  as  yet  for  us  to  grasp  its  full  significance. 

But  the  work  has  been  started.  Some  of  us  have 
joined  together  and  through  the  medium  of  the 
Committee  on  Employment  of  the  National  Com- 
mittee on  Prisons  and  Prison  Labor  are  endeavor- 
ing to  harness  together  forces  never  before  coor- 
dinated, to  make  social  relationships  real  and  protec- 
tion adequate  for  the  man  who  comes  out  of  prison. 


CHAPTER  XI 

THE  COMMUNITY  CENTER  AND  THE 
DELINQUENT 

BY  JOHN  COLLIER 

Director,    The   Training  School  for  Community  Workers,   New   York, 
Secretary,  National  Community  Center  Association 


CHAPTER  XI 

THE  COMMUNITY  CENTER  AND  THE 
DELINQUENT1 

THE  community  center  and  the  delinquent,  not 
merely  the  problem  of  delinquency,  need  to  be 
brought  together.  This  is  true  whether  the  delin- 
quent be  the  graduate  of  a  penal  institution  or  the 
wayward  youth  not  yet  committed.  The  need  is 
mutual;  there  is  no  greater  need  on  either  side. 
To  make  this  proposition  convincing  it  is  necessary 
to  define  the  community  center  and  also  to  venture 
on  a  speculation  as  to  the  nature  of  delinquency. 

The ,  community  center  is  an  impulse  toward 
meeting,  and  a  device  for  meeting,  one  of  the  crying 
needs  of  all  industrial  civilizations.  This  need  is 
the  restoration  of  the  possibility  for  human  expres- 
siveness which  in  the  first  stages  of  industrialism 
is  broken  down ;  and  the  provision  of  new  means 
for  ethical  development  among  the  common  people 
who  in  our  day  are  subjected  to  kinds  of  ethical 
stress  which  in  the  past  have  been  experienced  by 
none  except  the  more  adventurous  members  of  the 
small  leisure  class.  These  considerations  can  only 

1  This  chapter  is  largely  based  on  a  report  not  yet  published,  prepared 
by  Miss  Mildred  Taylor,  Secretary,  Committee  on  Unadjusted  Chil- 
dren of  the  People's  Institute  and  the  National  Committee  on  Prisons 
and  Prison  Labor. 

189 


190    THE  PRISON  AND  THE  PRISONER 

be  broadly  stated  here.  The  moral  life  of  custom 
and  of  supernatural  hope  and  fear,  which  has  sus- 
tained and  constrained  the  ninety  and  nine  who 
did  not  stray  in  the  past,  is  being  rapidly  made  impo- 
tent under  the  reactions  of  science,  of  cosmopoli- 
tanism, of  congestion,  of  factory  production,  of 
rapid  transit,  the  diffusion  of  ideas  and  influences 
through  printing,  and  the  constant  shifting  of  in- 
dividuals from  group  to  group  of  differing  customs. 
So  much  for  the  ethical  part.  It  all  applies  to  the 
human  part  too.  The  specialization  of  industry 
has  de-humanized  work;  the  family  as  an  institu- 
tion has  relatively  lapsed.  The  organization  of 
all  social  processes  into  vast  units  controlled  from 
remote  centers  has  deprived  most  individuals  of 
the  means  for  vital  social  expressiveness,  wholesome 
self-assertion,  and  the  sense  of  responsibility. 

The  old  order  changeth ;  the  new  order  is  a  seeth- 
ing-pot  —  Macbeth's  witch-pot  rather  than  Zang- 
will's  melting-pot.  Custom  and  law  diverge  ever 
more  widely ;  the  actual  group  standards  by  which 
individuals  really  live  grow  more  contrasting,  while 
at  the  same  time  the  individual  moves  (in  America 
at  least)  freely  from  group  to  group.  The  whole 
order  of  things  is  more  complex,  more  unstable, 
and  the  means  for  rightly  "placing"  the  individual, 
whether  socially  or  vocationally,  are  yet  waiting 
to  be  forged  out  through  social  science. 

The  above  condition,  as  a  totality,  is  not  bad 
but  good.  It  is,  however,  the  background  against 
which  the  delinquent  must  be  studied,  and  it  is 
the  condition  directly  and  consciously  responsible 


THE  CENTER  AND  THE  DELINQUENT    191 

for  the  world- wide  movement  to  establish  community 
centers. 

Now  for  the  community  center.  This  is  a  name 
for  any  local  organized  center  for  ethical,  human, 
or  common  interests.  It  is  a  watchword  for  those 
who  are  trying  to  win  life  back  to  the  small  unit 
basis  in  those  fields  of  concern  where  the  small  unit 
is  the  right  unit.  If  the  theory  back  of  Thomas 
Mott  Osborne's  work  at  Sing  Sing  is  a  correct  one  — 
the  theory  that  men  live  normally  in  groups  of  a 
fairly  intimate  character,  that  the  community  is 
made  up  of  cooperative  groups,  that  men  grow  vir- 
tuous through  taking  their  destiny  into  their  own 
hands  through  responsible  action  in  small  groups 
—  then  the  principles  of  Sing  Sing  must  be  estab- 
lished in  the  larger  community,  or  else  Sing  Sing 
must  continue  as  a  refuge  for  the  fortunate  few. 
Sing  Sing  has  become  a  fascinating  laboratory  for 
community  work;  its  greatest  interest  lies  in  the 
fact  that  one  may  there  observe  in  clear  cut  and 
favorable  operation  certain  forces  of  human  nature, 
certain  hugely  important  principles  of  the  endur- 
ing social  organization  which  can  also  be  observed 
in  the  community  center  movement  in  its  many 
forms  and  under  its  many  names;  neighborhood 
association,  social  center,  grange,  Wirt  School, 
and  above  all  in  the  cooperative  consumers'  move- 
ment of  European  countries. 

This  last  named  movement  is  of  the  same  type 
as  the  community  center  movement  in  nearly  all 
essentials.  In  it,  vast  economic  processes  have 
been  reorganized  on  the  small-unit  basis.  Retail 


192    THE  PRISON  AND  THE  PRISONER 

societies,  federations  of  retail  societies,  wholesale 
federations,  propagandizing  federations,  an  annual 
business  of  several  billions  of  dollars,  a  membership 
of  twenty-five  million  wage-earners,  all,  from  bot- 
tom to  top,  rest  on  a  basis  of  intimate  units  where 
every  man  knows  his  fellow  man,  where  the  local 
unit  rises  or  falls  by  its  own  virtue  and  yet,  in  its 
hardships,  is  sustained  by  the  resources  of  a  great 
movement,  and  in  its  success  contributes  in  ways 
vividly  manifest  to  the  success  of  the  whole.  The 
European  movement  has  flooded  over  into  social, 
moral,  and  spiritual  life,  in  a  hundred  definable 
ways.  In  Belgium  it  constitutes  the  main  part 
of  the  vital  environment  of  a  million  members, 
and  it  remains  in  Belgium  and  eastern  France  the 
only  important  social  structure,  except  possibly 
the  Roman  Catholic  Church,  which  has  not  been 
shattered  through  the  ravage  and  subjugation  of 
the  Great  War. 

In  America,  the  community  movement  centers 
in  its  latest  phase  in  the  use  of  public  school  build- 
ings by  organized  groups  of  the  people.  It  is  a 
new  phase,  yet  sixty-eight  cities  were  represented 
in  the  National  Conference  of  Community  Centers 
formed  during  the  last  year,  and  this  number  (of 
cities  or  towns,  not  of  individual  members)  will 
grow  to  several  hundred  before  another  year  has 
passed.  In  general,  school  community  centers  tend 
to  become  self-governing  in  a  real  way  and  are  more 
or  less  —  sometimes  wholly  —  self-supporting.  The 
promotion  of  self-governing  and  increasingly  self- 
supporting  community  centers  has  become  a  policy 


THE  CENTER  AND  THE  DELINQUENT  193 

with  many  State  and  municipal  boards  of  education. 
These  centers  have  memberships  including  all  ages 
and  both  sexes,  with  emphasis  on  attendance  by 
families  as  groups.  The  activities  are  whatever 
the  people  want,  theoretically ;  and  in  large  measure 
what  the  wise  professional  leader  suggests  and  pro- 
motes, practically. 

The  community  centers  have  not  yet  consciously 
related  themselves  to  the  problem  of  delinquency 
or  of  unadjustment ;  they  tend  to  be  and  do  in  ac- 
cordance with  the  tastes  of  the  supposedly  normal 
members  of  the  immediate  community  —  that  is, 
the  members  neither  too  rich  nor  too  poor,  neither 
geniuses  nor  subnormals,  neither  passionate  advo- 
cates of  reform  nor  fugitive  enemies  of  society.  This 
is  the  infancy  of  the  community  center;  it  must 
and  will  face  the  real  problem,  pool  the  interest  of 
its  members  toward  great  ends,  and  enlist  the  trou- 
blesome because  yet  untamed  individual,  if  it  is  to 
have  a  future. 

The  reason  why  the  community '  center  must  in- 
terest itself  sympathetically  in  the  delinquent  in- 
dividual contains  within  itself  the  theory  as  to  the 
nature  of  delinquency  intimated  at  the  beginning 
of  this  chapter.  The  delinquent  individual,  when 
he  is  not  an  outright  feeble-minded  case,  or  mere 
accidental  case,  brought  into  the  law's  coils  through 
fortuitous  legal  circumstances,  or  when  his  delin- 
quency is  not  a  direct  result  of  the  law's  attempts 
to  correct  some  previous  minor  delinquency,  must 
be  viewed  as  merely  an  acute  manifestation  of 
what  is  sub-acute  through  a  large  part  of  all  our 


194    THE  PRISON  AND  THE  PRISONER 

population.  He  is  the  unadjusted  individual.  His 
overt  act,  and  his  criminal  classification  supposedly 
based  on  the  act,  signify  little  and  sometimes  less 
than  nothing,  for  they  are,  in  the  case  of  most  ju- 
venile "offenders",  neither  the  crime  nor  the  cause 
of  the  crime.1  Looking  at  the  fount ainhead  of  all 
delinquency,  juvenile  delinquency,  we  find  the 
following  list  of  approximate  causes,  assigned  by 
the  Committee  on  Unadjusted  Children  of  the  Peo- 
ple's Institute  and  the  National  Committee  on 
Prisons  and  Prison  Labor.  The  list  is  patently  true 
as  far  as  it  goes :  physical  defects ;  feeble-minded- 
ness;  border-line  insanity;  vocational  unprepared- 
ness  ;  strong  interests  with  no  outlet ;  moral  mal- 
education;  unfortunate  school  environment;  social 
isolation;  social  misplacement;  gangs  and  other 
unfavorable  relationships ;  family  economic  distress ; 
conflict  with  family;  irresponsible  parents. 

The  Memorandum  of  the  Committee  above  quoted 
continues:  "The  same  causes  produce  truancy, 
delinquency  and  dependency,  and  the  children 
classified  under  each  of  these  headings  experi- 
ence, with  varying  degrees  of  emphasis,  the  same 
needs." 

But  it  is  evident  that  the  above  list  of  causes  of 
delinquency,  and  any  other  list  which  would  reason- 
ably cover  the  facts  of  experience,  is  a  list  of  causes 
which  are  afflicting  or  undoing  multitudes  of  other 
children  and  multitudes  of  other  families,  of  young 
people  and  old,  who  never  become  wards  of  the 

^'The  City  Where  Crime  is  Play"  (published  by  the  People's  Insti- 
tute, 1914). 


THE  CENTER  AND  THE  DELINQUENT   195 

State.  These  persons  are  never  stigmatized  as 
criminals,  victims,  or  failures,  or  even  classified  as 
" unadjusted",  but  they  are  in  fact  unadjusted, 
unhappy,  they  represent  vocational  failures,  they 
live  within  the  neurotic  zone,  and  in  a  sad  and 
meaningful  sense  they  are  defeated  lives.  Quoting 
further  from  the  Memorandum  of  the  Committee 
on  Unadjusted  Children  : 

"The  unadjusted  child  is  the  index  of  a  far  vaster 
latent  misery  among  all  the  people.  We  class 
ourselves  as  normal  and  these  problematical  persons 
as  abnormal ;  we  dream  that  underneath  our 
imagined  good  fortune  we  are  not  as  they  are;  or 
that  they  are  'unfortunates',  and  we  think  that 
our  own  children  are  not  bound  to  the  same  wheel. 
So  we  are  willing  to  lavish  public  expenditures 
and  technical  resources  on  the  unadjusted  child, 
if  only  he  can  be  kept  away  from  our  children  and 
out  of  our  immediate  sight.  And  in  our  community 
and  recreation  centers,  our  playgrounds  and  settle- 
ments, we  say  :  *  We  are  not  reform  institutions ; 
we  work  for  the  average  child.'  It  is  a  fact  that 
most  settlements  and  social  centers  to-day  virtually 
debar  the  unadjusted  child  who  has  passed  under 
the  law,  though  few  will  explicitly  say  that  they 
do.  All  the  while  the  mass  of  those  who  are  made 
at  home  in  our  neighborhood  institutions,  have  the 
same  needs  as  the  unadjusted  child  and  are,  save 
for  accident  or  circumstances,  as  unadjusted  as 
he.  The  'average'  child,  and  family  in  fact,  need 
the  help  of  the  special  remedial  agency,  and  the 
special  agency  to  do  its  work  effectively  needs  to 
operate  within  the  community  itself.  For  in  the 
last  analysis,  unadjustment  in  the  child,  feeble- 
mindedness and  other  inherited  pathology  debarred, 
is  just  homelessness,  nothing  less  and  nothing  more 


196    THE  PRISON  AND  THE  PRISONER 

—  a  lack  of  vital  and  satisfying  relation  to  neigh- 
bors, to  work,  to  the  social  life  through  which  one's 
personality  is  discovered  and  maintained." 

The  point  of  view  here  suggested,  as  to  the  nature 
of  delinquency,  is  especially  important.  If  the 
community  produces  the  delinquent,  then  we  must 
attend  to  the  community.  If  most  men  are  basi- 
cally sufferers  just  in  the  way  the  delinquent  is 
before  he  is  "caught",  then  we  must  attend  to  most 
men.  Unadjustment  is  our  gravest  human  prob- 
lem, without  exception.  In  it  the  special  problem 
of  the  recognized  delinquent  must  be  absorbed, 
and  our  whole  direction  of  treatment  —  the  kind 
of  demand  which  we  make  on  our  institutions  — 
must  be  altered.  The  community  center  is  poten- 
tially important  in  the  facing  of  this  issue  because 
if  it  "gets  ahead"  at  all,  it  must  accomplish  the 
following  results : 

1.  It  must  make  the  people  conscious  of  their 
problems  and  of  ways  of  collectively  meeting  them. 
None  of  these  problems  is  greater  than  that  of  unad- 
justment,   and  it  calls  for  concerted  action;    the 
most  Utopian  reconstruction  of  the  individual  will 
not  solve  it,  unless  we  are  to  continue  isolating  the 
individual  forever.     The  crisis  will  come  when  he 
"goes  back  home",  and  that  "home",  the  neigh- 
borhood, and  intimate  group  must  be  reconstructed 
from  within  under  its  own  leadership.     A  community 
center  could  be  viewed  as  such  a  "home"  reconstruct- 
ing itself. 

2.  The  community  center  must  bring  the  common 
people  and  the  specialist  together.     Both  elements 


THE  CENTER  AND  THE  DELINQUENT    197 

require  it.  Our  civilization  is  specialized.  Scien- 
tific endeavor  involves  specialization.  The  specialist 
must  be  conserved,  including  the  specialist  in  cur- 
ing unadjustment  and  improving  institutions.  The 
people  must  learn  how  to  get  at  the  specialist  and 
use  him,  and  this  use  must  be  reciprocal.  It  is  in 
the  fields  of  medicine  and  of  the  correction  of  unad- 
justments  of  the  psychic  and  social  kind  that  this 
mutual  usefulness  is  most  required.  If  we  had 
community  centers  inspired  by  dynamic  interests 
and  had  them  functionally  related  with  the  spe- 
cialists who  work  on  delinquency,  the  dominant 
question  of  prevention  and  of  after  care  would  be 
met.  They  cannot  be  met  otherwise. 

3.  A  final  and  distinct  aim  of  the  community 
center  must  be  to  teach  the  people  of  a  community 
to  expect  to  find  good  in  one  another,  to  solicit 
talent,  to  devise  uses  for  special  talent  and  special 
experience.  If  our  prisons  have  many  feeble- 
minded inmates,  they  also  have  strong-minded 
inmates,  and  many  inmates  of  the  neurotic,  the 
functionally  disordered  type,  the  type  which  is 
rich  in  special  talent  of  many  kinds,  richer  in  tem- 
peramental endowment  than  perhaps  any  other 
type,  and  not  without  inventiveness.  The  commu- 
nity center  needs  these  qualities.  The  child  or  man 
who  has  been  in  trouble  and  who  possesses  these 
qualities  will  make  good  if  we  can  put  them  to  the 
service  of  the  community  and  win  a  place  in  the 
community  by  serving.  We  must  hasten  the  time 
when  prisoners,  adult  as  well  as  juvenile,  will  be 
discreetly  paroled  to  community  center  service. 


198    THE  PRISON  AND  THE  PRISONER 

To  make  this  thought  real  an  illustration  is  quoted 
from  the  Memorandum  previously  referred  to : 

"  A  family  with  eight  boys.  One  boy  has  passed 
through  a  Protectory  and  is  now  being  called  upon 
periodically  by  a  parole  officer  from  the  Protectory. 
He  is  out  of  work  and  the  Employment  Bureau  of 
the  Protectory's  After-Care  Department  is  trying 
to  get  him  a  position.  A  local  employment  bureau 
connected  with  a  settlement  is  likewise  trying  to 
place  the  boy.  The  next  younger  brother,  who  is 
under  the  supervision  of  an  attendance  officer  and 
has  been  threatened  with  the  truant  school,  has 
also  been  before  the  Children's  Court  for  delinquency 
and  is  on  probation,  reporting  to  a  probation  officer. 
A  still  younger  brother  is,  according  to  the  father, 
incorrigible.  'He  likes  nothing  but  playing  the 
violin,'  the  father  says. 

"  This  remark  leads  back  to  the  Protectory  experi- 
ence of  the  elder  brother.  There,  according  to  the 
institution's  record,  the  boy  had  learned  to  play  the 
cornet ;  he  had  played  in  the  institution's  orchestra. 

"  The  father  had  once  played  an  instrument.  Music 
is  the  one  common  interest  of  the  family.  Their 
quarters  are  small,  and  as  the  babies  had  come  along, 
one  each  year,  the  space  for  playing  music  had 
dwindled.  At  last  they  ceased  to  play  together. 
The  mother  is  ashamed  of  her  eldest  boy  because 
he  has  been  to  a  protectory,  but  she  likes  music 
too. 

"There  is  a  community  center  four  doors  from 
the  tenement  where  this  family  lives.  The  distin- 
guishing achievement  of  this  center  has  been  in  the 
line  of  music.  Orchestras  and  choral  societies  have 
been  created  there  under  the  leadership  of  an  am- 
ateur genius. 

"  The  family  has  never  heard  of  the  community 
center.  The  community  center  has  never  heard 


THE  CENTER  AND  THE  DELINQUENT  199 

of  the  family.  The  probation  officer,  the  parole 
officer,  the  truant  officer,  have  not  consulted  one 
another  about  this  group  of  interrelated  cases.  None 
of  them  know  the  community  center  and  it  knows 
none  of  them. 

"  Here  is  a  family  with  special  talents  which  are 
at  the  same  time  their  one  common,  passionate 
interest.  These  talents  are  needed  and  honored 
by  the  community.  Here  is  a  community  instru- 
ment developed  through  years  of  labor  with  the 
object  of  enabling  people  to  give  of  themselves  to 
their  neighbors.  The  family  is  'down'  in  its  own 
esteem  and  in  that  of  its  neighbors. 

"  To  meet  this  case,  there  is  no  dearth  of  expert 
agencies,  no  dearth  of  community  resources.  There 
appears  no  intrinsic  incapacity  in  the  family.  But 
each  of  these  elements  of  social  aid  and  of  human 
hope  and  worth  are  moving,  as  it  were,  in  a  void. 
A  solitude  of  the  desert  surrounds  each  one. 

"Associate  them,"  the  Memorandum  concludes, 
"  and  the  whole  situation  will  be  transformed." 

Space  for  further  illustrative  cases  is  lacking  in 
this  article ;  the  above  case  alone  opens  many  teas- 
ing vistas.  But  why,  it  will  be  asked,  is  this  chap- 
ter devoted  to  "  must  be  "  and  "  can  be  "  with  no  refer- 
ence to  actual  past  achievement  ?  We  must  reply  : 
The  approach  to  the  problem  of  delinquency,  from 
the  standpoint  of  sympathetic  community  aid,  the 
approach  of  equal  to  equal,  from  without  the  prison 
and  within,  is  new  even  in  popular  thought.  As 
for  the  community  center,  it  is  as  yet  more  a  wide- 
spread and  enduring  impulse  than  anything  achieved ; 
three  presidents  of  the  United  States  have  declared 
it  to  be  the  most  significant  current  phase  of  funda- 


200    THE  PRISON  AND  THE  PRISONER 

mental  democracy,  but  it  is  yet  infantile,  plastic, 
unsure  of  its  own  values.  For  this  very  reason, 
experiments,  demonstrations,  courageous  applied 
imagination  are  needed.  "Action  is  the  beginning 
of  everything."  It  is  likely  that  the  present  year, 
in  New  York  City  at  least,  will  witness  radical 
developments  in  the  bringing  together  of  effort 
in  community  centers,  effort  toward  the  correction 
of  unadjustment,  and  effort  toward  the  moderni- 
zation of  prisons. 

Postscript,    April,    1917. 

All  that  is  said  above  has  been  embodied  in  a 
project  just  instituted  by  the  Committee  on  Unad- 
justed Children  of  New  York.  The  project  is 
called  the  Community  Clearing  House.  It  serves 
an  area  of  about  fifteen  thousand  people  in  the 
Gramercy  district  of  New  York.  Through  this 
clearing  house  the  experts  of  public  and  of  private 
social  service  will  be  enabled  to  cooperate  more 
intimately  with  one  another  and  will  be  placed  in 
touch  with  the  organized  common  people.  The 
clearing  house  is  made  semi-official  through  the  co- 
operation of  the  following,  among  other  public  de- 
partments :  Education,  Charities,  Correction,  Health, 
Tenement,  Employment,  Hospitals. 

Associated  with  the  clearing  house  will  be  a  social 
clinic  for  unadjusted  children  where  experimental 
work  in  the  rehabilitation  of  delinquent  young 
people  will  be  carried  out  in  cooperation  with  the 
Children's  Court,  the  Compulsory  Attendance 
Bureau,  and  the  parole  officers  of  institutions. 


THE  CENTER  AND  THE  DELINQUENT  201 

The  Community  Clearing  House  and  the  Social 
Clinic  will  operate  in  close  relations  with  the  large 
experimental  Community  Center  which  is  main- 
tained at  School  40,  Manhattan,  by  the  Training 
School  for  Community  Workers  of  the  People's 
Institute. 


INDEX 


ACADEMY  OF  POLITICAL 
SCIENCE,  proceedings  of, 
Jan.  1914,  161 

Administration  of  State  penal 
institutions,  92,  94,  95, 
97 

Administrative  head  of  a  State 
penal  institution,  92,  93, 
95 

Agriculture,  a  factor  in  the  re- 
habilitation   of    prisoners, 
147 
United  States  Department  of, 

161 
Alabama,  prison  contract  labor 

not  slavery  in,  68 
Anderson  v.  Crescent  Garment 
Co.,    a   case    to    test    the 
status  of  the  convict,  52 
argument  for  defendant,  60 
argument  for  plaintiff,  52 
opinion,  75 

reply  brief  for  plaintiff,  70 
Anti-slavery   clauses   in   State 

constitutions,  53 
Apprenticeship   of  minors,  68, 

73 
Attorney  General,  a  prosecuting 

officer,  90 
jurisdiction      over      federal 

prisons,  88 

jurisdiction    over    territorial 
prisoners,  86 


Attorney  General,  —  Continued 
to  order  transfer  of  insane 

prisoners,  87 
to  purchase  sites  for  prisons, 

87 

Auburn  Prison,  101,  102,  165 
Mutual  Welfare  League  in, 

12,  102 

results  of,  107,  108 
Warden  Rattigan  of,  102 

BALTIMORE,          ILLEGITIMATE 

CHILD  IN,  179 
Bastile,  wages  paid  to  French 

convicts  since  fall  of,  50 
Battle,  George  Gordon,  52,  53 
Binding  out  of  paupers,  68,  74 
Board   of   Standardization   for 
correctional      institutions, 
143,  174 

Butler,  Nicholas  Murray,  Presi- 
dent of  Columbia  Univer- 
sity, 92 

CALIFORNIA,    LABOR    LEGISLA- 
TION OF,  168 
lease  system  in,  168 
San  Quentin  prison  in,  167 
University  of,  168 
Capital  punishment,  83,  85 
Carter,  James  M.,  13 
Causative  factors  of  crime,  23, 
24 


204 


INDEX 


Chafee,  Zechariah,  Jr.,  60 
Civil    Service    Commission    of 
New  York  State,  manual 
for  examination  of  prison 
and     reformatory     guard, 
117 
Civil  War,  49,  54,  71 

condition  of  negro  slaves  be- 
fore, 67 

Clark,  Dr.  L.  Pierce,  30 
Classification   of   prisoners,   9, 

10,19 

Columbia  University,  Graduate 
Department  of     Highway 
Engineering   of,    161 
President  Butler  of,  92 
Community  center,  189,    191, 

193,  196-199 
cooperation  with  community 

clearing  house,  201 
national  conference  of,  192 
reason  for  interest  of,  in  the 

delinquent,  193 
use  of  public  school  buildings 

for,  192 

Compulsory  service,  73 
Connecticut,  appropriations  for 

reformatory  in,  106 
board  of   directors  of,  106- 
109, 111 

a  board  of  parole,  109, 110 
grading   of   reformatory    in- 
mates in,  112 

Mutual   Welfare   League   in 
reformatory  of,   108,   109, 
111,  112 
reformatory  at  Cheshire,  107, 

108 

road  work  for  reformatory  in- 
mates in,  110,  111 
wage  for  reformatory  inmates 
in,  110 


"  Constitutional      History      of 

New  York  State",  by  C.  Z. 

Lincoln,  166,  167, 169,  172 

Constitution     of    the    United 

States,  73,  75,  83 

Thirteenth  amendment,  49, 
50,  66 

Willoughby's,  66 
Continental       Congress       for 
government  of  North- West 
Territory,  66 

Contract    system    of    convict 
labor,  58,  85,  94,  110 

abandonment  in  many  States 
of,  59 

abolished  in  New  Jersey,  171 

comparison  with  apprentice- 
ship of  minors,  68 

comparison  with  binding  out 
of  paupers,  68 

contention  that  it  is  not 
slavery,  66,  68 

contract  between  Rhode 
Island  Board  of  Control 
and  Crescent  Garment 
Company,  52 

effort  to  reinstate  in  New 
York  State,  172 

established  in  New  York 
State  by  1828,  167 

existed  contemporaneously 
with  adoption  of  constitu- 
tion in  Rhode  Island,  78 

exploitation  of  prisoner  under, 
85,  168 

federal  legislation  to  over- 
come, 171 

first  evidence  in  Rhode  Island 
of,  56 

held  to  be  in  contravention 
of  Rhode  Island  constitu- 
tion, 52 


INDEX 


205 


Contract  system  of  convict 
labor,  —  Continued 

in  Rhode  Island,  52,  56,  60, 
64,  67,  71 

in  States  which  prohibit 
slavery,  73 

litigation  decided  by  Supreme 
Court  of  U.  S.  in  connec- 
tion with,  67 

long  establishment  in  Rhode 
Island,  64,  65,  69 

Maine  contract,  78 

national  concerted  action 
against,  169,  170 

not  slavery  if  contractor  can- 
not enforce  control,  75,  78, 
79 

not  slavery  in  Alabama,  68 

not  slavery  in  Illinois  and 
Georgia,  69 

primarily  a  benefit  to  the  con- 
tractor, 74 

prohibited  in  federal  prisons, 
87 

prohibited  in  prisons  where 
federal  prisoners  are  con- 
fined, 87 

recognized  by  legislators,  65 

statute  authorizing,  in  Rhode 
Island,  51 

(See  LEASE  SYSTEM  OF  CON- 
VICT LABOR) 

Convict,  labor  of  the,  51,  52, 
56,  58-60,  63-35,  67-69, 
72-75,  77,  78 

rights  of,  in  Rhode  Island, 
60,  61,  70 

state  in  loco  parentis  to,  74 

status  of,  51,  52,  55,  78,  79 

wage  for  the,  50,  54,  56-58, 
63,  96,  138,  139,  174, 
175 


Convict    labor,    contract   sys- 
tem of,  51,  52,  56,  58,  59, 
64-69,  71,   73-75,  78,  79, 
85,  94,  171,  172 
shop  labor,  56 
solitary  labor,  56 
wage  for,  50,  54,  56-58,  63, 

96,  138,  139,  174,  175 
"Convict     Labor     for     Road 
Work  ".Bulletin  414,  U.S. 
Department  of  Agriculture, 
161 

"Convict     Road      Work     for 
Misdemeanant  Prisoners", 
James    L.    Stamford,    161 
Cooperative  Consumers'  Move- 
ment, 191,  192 

Corporal  punishment  pro- 
hibited in  Rhode  Island, 
55, 59,  72 

Correctional  institutions,  board 
of  standardization  for,  143 
cooperation       with       other 
State  boards  and  commis- 
sions, 146 

coordination   of,    144 
educational  directors  for,  144, 

145 

occupations  for,  147-150 
State  superintendent  of  in- 
dustries  for,    143 
supervisors  of  shop  work  for, 

144,  145 
(See    PENAL    INSTITUTIONS  ; 

PRISONS) 

Court  of   General  Sessions  in 

the  City  of  New  York,  7 

Courts,  function  of,  4 

Crescent    Garment    Company, 

contract  with  Rhode  Island 

State  Board  of  Control,  52 

Criminal  records  of  prisoners,  7 


206 


INDEX 


Cullen,  Peter,  183 

Curtis,  General  Newton  Mar- 
tin, speech  before  the 
House  of  Representatives, 
June  9,  1882,  83 

DAVIS,  KATHARINE  B.,  15 
Death  penalty 

(See  CAPITAL  PUNISHMENT) 
Declaration    of    Independence, 

158 
Delinquent,  189,  193,  194,  196, 

199 
Department  of  Agriculture,  84, 

91,  161 

Department  of  Interior,  85,  89 
government   hospital   under, 

90 
Department  of  Justice,  85,86, 

88 
charge  of  Bureau  of  Criminal 

identification,  90 
charge  of  convicts  in  govern- 
ment hospital,  90 
charge  of  federal  prisons  and 

prisoners,  90 

charge    of    Territorial    pris- 
oners, 90 

Department  of  Labor,  85 
Bureau   of   Labor    Statistics 

under,  89 
Department  of  State,  85 

International    Prison    Com- 
missioner under,  88 
Department  of  War,  85 

control  over  military  prisons, 

89 

control     over     prisons      in 
Panama,  Porto  Rico,  and 
the  Philippines,  89 
Discharge,     preparedness    for, 
11,19 


District    of    Columbia,    insane 

asylum  of,   87 
correctional    institutions    in 
report  to  Secretary  of  the 
Interior,  90 
penitentiary  of,   87 
"Dope",  120 

EAVES,  DOCTOR  LTJCILE, 
"California  Labor  Legisla- 
tion", 167,  168 

Educational  directors  for  cor- 
rectional institutions,  144, 
145 

Employment  of  prisoners  at 
hard  labor  not  slavery,  69 

FEDERAL  AND  STATE  LAWS 
REGULATING  CONVICT  LA- 
BOR, 89 

Federal  Constitution 

(See  CONSTITUTION  OF  THE 
UNITED  STATES) 

Federal  Courts,  supervision 
over  United  States  Mar- 
shals, 90 

Federal  Government,  need  for 
leadership  in  penal  field, 
85,92 

policy  of  boarding  out  pris- 
oners, 84 

Federal  Judges,  86 

Federal  legislation  to  regulate 
interstate  commerce  in 
convict-made  goods,  170, 
171 

Federal  Office  of  Prisons,  a 
clearing  house  for  federal 
prisons,  91 

suggested  by  National  Com- 
mittee on  Prisons  and 
Prison  Labor,  91 


INDEX 


207 


Federal   Office    of  Prisons,— 

Continued 

to     insure     leadership     for 
federal   penal   system,    92 
Federal  penal  system,  84,  85,  91 
Federal  prisoners,  deduction  of 
time  for  good  conduct  of  ,86 
increase  in  number  of,  85 
in  State  and  county  institu- 
tions, 84,  86 

responsibility    for,    centered 
in  Department  of  Justice, 
88,90 
under    custody    of    United 

States    Marshals,    86 
withdrawal    of,    from   State 
and  county  institutions,  87 
Federal  prisons,  Department  of 
Justice  control  over,  85,  90 
erection  of,  90 
industries  in,  87 
selection  of  sites  for,  90 
should      be      governmental 

laboratories,  91 
Feeble-minded,   154 
in  prison,  8 

in  reception  prison,  35 
Royal  Commission  on  care  of, 

in  Great  Britain,  8 
(See   MENTAL   DEFECTIVES) 
Forces  operative  in  control  and 
direction   of    human    con- 
duct, 26,  27 
French  Revolution,  50 

effect  of,  on  treatment  of 
French  convicts,  50 
Fry,  Elizabeth,  165 

GARVIN,  ALBERT,  107 
Gary  system  of  education,  133 
Georgia,  prison  contract  labor 
not  slavery  in,  69 


George  Junior  Republic,  140 
George,  William  R.,  "Nothing 

without  Labor",  140 
Glueck,  Dr.  Bernard  H.,  29 
Goddard,  Henry  H.,  8 
Goldsborough,     Phillips     Lee, 

171 

Gompers,  Samuel,  169,  173 
Grading  of  prisoners  in  Con- 
necticut, 112 

HEALY,  DR.  WILLIAM,  24 

Henderson,  Charles  Richmond, 
' '  Modern  Prison  Systems ' ', 
165 

"Historical  Sketch  of  the 
Knights  of  Labor", 
Carroll  D.  Wright,  170 

Hix,  Thomas  W.,  78 

Homicide,  definitions  of,  in 
different  States,  3 

"Honor  Men",  153 

"Honor  system",  105 

Hospital  Development  Com- 
mission of  New  York 
State,  10 

Howard,  John,  165 

ILLINOIS,  ANTI-SLAVERY  CLAUSE 

IN  CONSTITUTION  OF,  53 
prison    contract    labor    not 

slavery  in,  69 

restriction   of  prison   manu- 
facture in,  169 
Illiteracy,    in    United    States, 

158-160 
relation    of    good    and    bad 

roads  to,  159,  160 
Indeterminate  sentence,  14,  18, 

19 

Indiana,  anti-slavery  clause  in 
constitution  of,  53 


208 


INDEX 


Indiana,  —  Continued 

restriction  of  prison  manufac- 
ture in,  169 
Industrial  Commission  of  1900, 

170 

Industrial  training  for  the  pris- 
oner, 127 
cooperation    with    organized 

labor  in,  146 
farm  training,  136,  147 
in  trades,  146 
maintenance        occupations, 

134,  135 
productive  incentive  lacking 

for,  128,  134,  135 
program  for,  130,  131,  132 
International   Prison   Commis- 
sion, United  States  adher- 
ing member  of,  88 
President      appoints      com- 
missioner, 89 

International  relationships,  im- 
prisonment   for    violation 
of,  83 
Involuntary      servitude,      49, 

79 

reasons  for  inclusion  in 
Thirteenth  Amendment, 
66 

JOHNSON,  CHIEF  JUSTICE,  75 

KENT'S  COMMENTARIES,  53 
Kir  by,  Dr.  George  H.,  30 
Kirchwey,  Professor  George  W., 

15,  101 
Knights  of  Labor,  169,  170 

LARCENY,  DEFINITIONS  OF,   in 

different  States,  3 
hanging   for,   in   New   York 
State,  5 


Lease  system  of  convict  labor, 
exploitation     of     prisoner 
under,  85,  168 
(See   CONTRACT  SYSTEM  OF 

CONVICT  LABOR) 
Lincoln,  Abraham,  49,  102 
Lincoln,  C.  Z.,  "Constitutional 
History     of     New     York 
State",     166,     167,     169, 
172 

MACBETH,  190 

Maine,      Hix,     Thomas     W., 
Warden,  State  prison,  78 
prison  contract  in,  78 
restriction   of   prison   manu- 
facture in,  169 

Manning,   John   H.,    173,    175 
Market  for  institutional  goods, 

143 

Maryland,     Governor     Golds- 
borough  of,  171 
house  of  correction  of,  171, 

180 

penal   penitentiary   commis- 
sion of,  171 

prison  contracts  in,  171 
restriction  on  prison  manu- 
facture in,  169 

Massachusetts,    restriction    on 
prison  manufacture  in,  169 
Maxcy,  Henry,  78 
Mental  defectives,  like  routine 

work,  142 
segregation  of,  145 
(See  FEEBLE-MINDED) 
Michigan,    anti-slavery    clause 

in  constitution  of,  53 
Military  prison  at  Fort  Leaven- 
worth,  88 
Miller,  Justice,  66 
Minnesota,  restriction  of  prison 
manufacture  in,  169 


INDEX 


209 


"Modern     Prison     Systems", 

Charles    Richmond    Hen- 
derson, 165 
Moses,  4 

Mutual  Welfare  League,  12,  13 
address  before,  at  Sing  Sing, 

169 

aims  of,  104,  105 
board     of     control     of,     at 

Cheshire  Reformatory,  109 
board    of    delegates    of,    at 

Sing  Sing,  102 
court,  103 
differs  from  "Honor  system", 

105 
duties  of  officers  of,  at  Sing 

Sing,  120-122 
escape  of  officer  of,  183 
established    at    Connecticut 

Reformatory,  112 
executive  committee  of,  102 
extended  to  Sing  Sing,   102 
first  meeting  of,  102 
first  meeting  of,  at  Cheshire, 

108 
inmates'  court  at   Cheshire, 

112 
membership     of     executive 

board  of,  103 
organization  of,   102 
paroles      recommended      by 

Cheshire  branch,   109 
privileges  of,   103,   108,   111 
results  at  Auburn  prison,  107, 

108 
Mutual  Welfare  System,  182 

NATIONAL  ANTI-CONTRACT  AS- 
SOCIATION, 170 

National  Committee  on  Prisons 
and  Prison  Labor,  51,  90, 
101,  161,  172 


National  Committee  on  Prisons 
and  Prison  Labor,  —  Con- 
tinued 

case  to  test  the  status  of  the 
convict,  52 

employment  committee  of, 
186 

joint  committee  of,  on  unad- 
justed children,  189,  194 

psychiatric  clinic  under  aus- 
pices of,  10 

report  on  Maryland  house  of 
correction  made  by,  180 

suggestions  for  establishment 
of  federal  office  of  prisons, 
91 

National  Conference  of    Com- 
munity  Centers,   192 
National  Democratic  Platform 

of  1916,  171 
Navy  Department,  control  over 

naval  prisoners  by,  89 
Neighborhood  association,  191 
New  Jersey,  contract  system  of 
convict  labor  abolished  in, 
171 

New  prison  system,  address  by 
William  H.  Wadhams  on, 
172 

duties  of  Mutual  Welfare 
League  officers  under,  120, 
121,  122,  123 

duties  of  prison  officers  under, 
120,  121 

effect  on  prisoners  of,  183 

schools  and  industries  under, 

129 

New  York,  adoption  of  Penn- 
sylvania prison  system  by, 
165 

branding  of  prison-made 
goods  in,  166,  170 


210 


INDEX 


New  York,  —  Continued 

choice  of  institutions  and  of 

length  of  sentence  in,  9 
civil  service  commission  of,  117 
civil  service  examination  for 

prison  officers  in,  117 
clearing  house  for  prisoners 

of,  29 

commission  to    examine    the 
department  of  State  pris- 
ons of,  172 
commission  on  prison  reform 

of,  30,  101,  102 
constitutional  history  of,  166, 

167,  169,  172 
contract   system   of   convict 

labor  in,  167 

Department  of  Labor  of,  bul- 
letin of,  March,  1910,  170 
federation  of  labor  of,  173 
hanging  for  larceny  in,  5 
hospital    development    com- 
mission of,  10 
laws  of,  11,  166 
mechanics  of,  active  against 

prison  competition,   169 
new  prison  commission  of,  10 
no  classification  of  prisoners 

in,  93 

parole  law  of  1915  of,  15 
printers'  union  in,  146 
reception  prison  for  prisoners 

of,  25,  30 

restriction  on  prison  manu- 
facture in,  169 
sentence  fixed  by  judge  in,  14 
Sing  Sing  prison,  6, 10-13,  27, 
29,  30,  36,  102,  118,  165, 
169, 172, 173, 175,  183,  191 
State  hospital  for  insane  at 

Matteawan,  36 
statute  of  1801,  166 


New  York,  —  Continued 

stove  industry  in  the  prisons 

of,  169 
New   York    City,   community 

clearing  house  of,  200,  201 
court  of  general  sessions  in,  7 
ex-convict  in,   180 
experience  of  judges  in  regard 

to  indeterminate  sentence 

in,  18 

Newgate  prison  built  in,  165 
parole  commission  of,  15-17 
peoples'  institute  of,  189, 194, 

201 
"  Nothing     without     Labor ", 

William  R.  George,  140 

OCCUPATIONS      FOB      CORREC- 
TIONAL INSTITUTIONS,  147- 

150 

Ohio,  anti-slavery  clause  in  con- 
stitution of,  53 

restriction  on  prison  manu- 
facture in,  169 
Old  Prison  System,   117-119 

brutality  of,  104,  105 

duties  of  officers  at  Sing  Sing 
under,  118,  119 

punishments  under,  120 
Organized  labor,  94 

need  for  cooperation  with,  in 
prison  industrial  work,  146 

proposal  by,  for  distribution 
of  prison-made  goods,  171 

proposal  by,  of  federal  legis- 
lation to  regulate  interstate 
commerce  in  convict-made 
goods,  171 

suggestions  by,  of  "  State  use ' ' 
system,  172 

willing  to  receive  ex-prisoners 
into  unions,  175 


INDEX 


Osborne,  Thomas  Mott,  '6,  13, 
101,    107,    172,    173,    183, 
191 
address  on  prison  reform,  172 

PANAMA,  PRISONS  UNDER  WAR 

DEPARTMENT,  89 
Parole,  commission  of  the  city 

of  New  York,  15-17 
from  Cheshire  Reformatory, 

109 

Penal  institutions,  administra- 
tion of,  92,  97 
administrative  head  of,  92 
training  in,  95 

(See  CORRECTIONAL  INSTITU- 
TIONS; PRISONS) 
"Penal   Servitude",   E.    Stagg 
Whitin,  50,  93,  167,  170, 
171,  180 
Pennsylvania,    prison    society 

founded  in,  181 
prison  system  of,  165 
restriction   of  prison   manu- 
facture in,  169 
statute  of  March,  1780,  63 
People's  Institute  of  New  York 
City,  joint  committee  of, 
on     unadjusted     children, 
189,  194 
the  city  where  crime  is  play, 

194 

training  schools  for  commu- 
nity workers,  201 
Phenomenon    common    to    of- 
fenders, 25 

Philippine      Islands,      prisons 

under  War  Department,  89 

Plessy  v.  Ferguson,  definition  of 

slavery  in,  53,  76 
Porto  Rico,  prisons  under  War 
Department,  89 


President  of  United  States,  ap- 
points international  prison 
commissioner,  89 
Prison,    a   community,    94-97, 
133 

assignment  to  work  in,  128, 
141 

control    of,    93 

diet  in  the,  96 

difference  between  industrial 
plant  of,  and  ordinary  in- 
dustrial plant,  94 

distribution  of  commodities 
of,  93,  95 

educational  and  vocational 
purposes  of,  129 

educational  work  in,  130 

farm  training  in,  96,  136-138, 
174 

maintenance  occupations  in, 
134,  135 

organization  of  work  in,  96 

population  of,  93,  127 

production  and  distribution 
of  commodities  in,  93,  95, 
96 

productive  work  in,  130 

punitive  industries  in,  141, 
142 

purchasing  department  for, 
96 

trade  work  in,  146 

vocational  guidance  in,   146 

vocational  work  in,  130 

wage  for  work  in,  50,  54,  56- 
58,  96,  110,  139,  174, 
175 

(See   CORRECTIONAL    INSTI- 
TUTIONS ;  PENAL  INSTITU- 
TIONS) 
Prisoners'   Aid   Societies,    181, 


INDEX 


Prison  officer,  duties  of,  under 
old  and  new  prison  sys- 
tems, 117-123 

appointed  under  civil  service 
in  New  York  State,  117' 

no  special  training  for,  117, 
118 

productive  incentive  lacking 

for  the,  128 

Prison  reform,  address  on  by 
Thomas  Mott  Obsorne,  172 

advocated  by  National  Demo- 
cratic Platform  of  1916, 
171 

need  for  cooperation  with 
organized  labor  in,  146 

New  York  State  Commission 
on,  30,  101,  102 

relation  of  industrial  training 

to,  127 
Public,  defender,  157 

prosecutor,   157 

schools,   Gary  plan  in,  133 
self-government  in,   133 
use    of    buildings    of,    for 
community  centers,  192 
Punishment    of    the    criminal 
under   jurisdiction   of   the 
several   States,   83 

QUAKERS,  MODERN  TYPE  OF 
PRISON  DEVISED  BY,  165 

RATTIQAN,    WARDEN,  AUBURN 

PRISON,  102 
Reception  prison,  25,  30 

adjustment  of  individual  to 

environment  in,  28 
articulation  of,  with  an  edu- 
cational institution,  29 
buildings  required  for,  39 
feeble-minded  in,  35 


Reception  prison,  —  Continued 

general  features  of,  32 

hospital  and  dispensary  treat- 
ment in,  33 

infirm  and  crippled  in,  37 

intensive  study  of  the  indi- 
vidual in,  28 

internal  administration  of, 
26 

medical  examination  in,  32, 
33 

mental  and  sociological  study 
in,  38 

method  of  evaluation  of 
prison  population,  94 

normal  group  in,  35 

personnel  of,  42 

recommended  by  New  York 
State  Federation  of  Labor, 
173 

sexual  psychopathies  in,  37 

special  group  in,  35 

special  mental  cases  in,   36 

transfer  of  prisoners  from,  44 
Republican  platform  of    1864, 

66 

Revolutionary   War,    165 
Rhode  Island,  acts  of,  70,  71 

case  to  test  the  status  of  the 
convict  in,  51 

constitution  of,  51,  56,  58, 
65,  67,  68,  71,  73,  75-77 

constitutional  provision 

against  cruel  punishments 
in,  55 

contract  system  of  convict 
labor  in,  52,  56,  60,  64,  67, 
71 

convict  not  a  slave  under 
existing  contracts  in,  68,  79 

corporal  punishment  pro- 
hibited in,  55 


INDEX 


213 


Rhode  Island,  —  Continued 

definition  of  slavery  accepted 
in,  60 

general  laws  of,  51, 54, 55,  57, 
60,  64,  68 

prison  contract  in,  52,  54 

prohibition  of  slavery  in  con- 
stitution of,  60 

regulations  for  discharge  of 
convicts  in,  57 

rights  of  convicts  in,  60, 61, 70 

slavery  in,  75 

State  Board  of  Charities  and 
Correction  of,  57 

State  Board  of  Control  and 
Supply  of,  51,  52,  54,  55, 
59,60 

State  Board  of  Prison  In- 
spectors of,  56-58,  64,  71 

wage  to  convicts  in,  54,  56-58 
Rice,  Herbert  A.,  60 
Road    work,    by    inmates    of 
Cheshire  Reformatory,  110 

recommended    for    employ- 
ment of  convicts  by  New 
York  State  Federation  of 
Labor,  174 
Roux,  Roger,  "Le  travail  dans 

les  prisons",  50 
Royal  Commission  on  Care  of 
Feeble-minded     in    Great 
Britain,  8 

SALMON,  DR.  THOMAS  W.,  26 
San  Quentin  Prison,  167 
Secretary  of  Labor,  reports  of, 
to   Congress  in  regard  to 
convict  labor,  89 
Secretary  of  the  Interior,  cor- 
rectional    institutions     in 
District  of   Columbia   re- 
port to,  90 


Secretary    of    the  Interior, — 

Continued 
first    responsibility   of,     for 

federal    prisoners,    87 
to  purchase  sites  for  federal 

prisons,  87 
to  transfer  insane  prisoners, 

87 
Self-government,  95,  107,  112- 

114,  172 

in  community  centers,  192 
in  public  schools,  131 
Sentence  fixed  by  the  judge  in 

New  York  State,  14 
Servi  Peonce,   50 
Sing  Sing  Prison,  abandonment 

of,    as    a    prison    recom- 
mended, 30 
a    clearing    house    for    New 

York  State  prisoners,   29 
built  in  1827,  165 
address  before  Mutual  Wel- 
fare League  of,  169 
commitments        from,        to 

Matteawan  State  Hospital, 

36 

criminal  records  of  men  dis- 
charged   from,    6 
increased    production    under 

the  new  prison  system  in, 

172 
labor    conference    at,     173, 

175 
Mutual  Welfare  League  in, 

12,   13,   102,   183 
Osborne,      Thomas      Mott, 

Warden  of,   173,   191 
provision   for   demolition   of 

cell-block    of,    11 
provision  for  new  prison  in 

place  of,  30 
psychiatric  clinic  at,  10,  30 


214 


INDEX 


Sing  Sing  Prison,  —  Continued 

under  new  prison  system, 
118-123 

work  in  laboratory  at,  27 
Slave,  condition  of,  before  the 
Civil  War,  67 

labor  inefficient,    172. 

rights  of,  54,  55 

work  of  the  negro  as  a,  139 
Slavery,  51,   61,   62,   72,    139, 
156 

abolition  of,  by  Thirteenth 
Amendment,  75 

anti-slavery  clauses  in  State 
constitutions,  53 

as  punishment  for  crime,  49 

characteristics  of,  54,  72 

compulsory  labor  on  streets 
not,  69 

compulsory  service  by  mer- 
chant sailors  not,  69 

contract  prison  labor  not,  in 
Illinois  and  Georgia,  69 

contract  system  of  prison 
labor  in  States  which  pro- 
hibit, 73 

definitions  of,  53,  60,  61,  76 

did  Maine  contract  create? 
78 

does  Thirteenth  Amendment 
sanction,  as  punishment 
for  crime  ?  49,  67,  79 

elements  of,  53 

employment  of  prisoners  at 
hard  labor  not,  69 

has  contract  convict  labor 
the  elements  of?  52,  66 

imposition  of  similar  dis- 
qualification upon  off- 
spring, 62,  64 

not  determined  by  wage  or 
lack  of  wage,  65 


Slavery,  —  Continued 

prohibition  in  Rhode  Island 
narrower  than    in   federal 
constitution,  67 
service  for  life,  62,  63 
status  of,  not  established  by 

test  case,   77,  78 
termination  of,  advocated  in 
Republican     Platform     of 
1864,  66 

termination  of  confinement 
at  fixed  date  not  inconsis- 
tent with,  55 

United  States  constitutional 
provision  regarding,  49,  50, 
66,  67,  72-77,  79 
working  out  fines  not,  69 
Social  center,  185,  191 
Solitary  confinement,    165 
Southern  slave  owner,  power  of, 

over  slave,  55 
Stamford,  James  L.,  "Convict 
Road    Work    for    Misde- 
meanant   Prisoners",    161 
State-  Board  of  Charities  and 
Correction  in  Rhode  Island, 
57 

State    Board    of    Control    and 
Supply   in   Rhode   Island, 
51,  52,  54,  55,  59,  69 
contract  with  Crescent  Gar- 
ment Company,  52 
State  Board  of  Prison  Inspec- 
tors in  Rhode  Island,  re- 
ports of,  56-58,  64,  71 
State  Superintendent  of  Indus- 
tries for   Correctional  In- 
stitutions, 143,  144 
"State  Use"  System,  172,  175 
Summer,  David  H.,  78 
Sundry    Civil    Appropriations 
Bill,  June  12th,  1917,  87 


INDEX 


215 


Supervisor  of  shop  work  for 
correctional  institutions, 
144,  145 

Supreme  Court  of  the  United 
States,  litigation  connected 
with  prison  contracts  in,  67 
only  court  which  can  inter- 
pret Thirteenth  Amend- 
ment, 79 

TAYLOR,  MILDRED,  189 

Territorial  prisoners,  under  ju- 
risdiction of  Attorney  Gen- 
eral, 86,  90 

"The  Caged  Man",  E.  Stagg 
Whitin,  169 

"The  City  Where  Crime  is 
Play",  published  by  Peo- 
ple's Institute  of  New  York, 
194 

Theory,  of  absolute  psychic  de- 
terminism, 23 

of  general  governmental  su- 
pervision, 84 

Thirteenth  Amendment  to  the 
Constitution  of  the  United 
States,  49,  53,  73-75,  79 

Token  money,  96,  139,  140 

Training  School  for  Community 
Workers,  201 

"  Travail  dans  les  Prisons  ",  le, 
by  Roger  Roux,  50 

UNADJUSTED    CHILDREN,    195, 

196 
report  of  committee  on,  189, 

194,  195,  198,  199 
United  States,  adhering  mem- 
ber of  International  Prison 
Commission,  88,  89 
census  of  1910,  7 
compiled  statutes  of,  86-88 


United  States,  —  Continued 

Constitution  of,  49, 50, 53, 66, 
67,  72,  73-77,  79 

Declaration  of  Independence 
of,  158 

Department  of  Agriculture, 
84,  91,  161 

employment  of  specialists  in 
vocational  education  by, 
147 

illiteracy  in,  158,  159,  160 

marshals,  86,  90 

need  for  good  roads  in,  158 

peonage  cases,  69 

statutes  at  large  (1896),  89 

Supreme  Court  of,  67,  79 

three  presidents  of,  favor 
community  center  move- 
ment, 199 

Willoughby's       Constitution 

of,  66 

University  of  California,  pub- 
lications in  economics, 
168 

"Utilization  of  Convict  Labor 
in  Highway  Construction 
in  the  North,  The", 
Sydney  Wilmot,  161 
"Utilization  of  Convict  Labor 
in  Highway  Construction 
in  the  South,  The",  James 
Wilmot,  161 

VOCATIONAL  GUIDANCE  IN 
PRISON,  145 

WADHAMS,  WILLIAM  H.,  "The 
New  Prison  System",  172 

Wage  for  convicts,   advocated 
by  New  York  State  Feder- 
ation of  Labor,  174,  175 
for  overtime  work,  50 


216 


INDEX 


Wage  for  convicts,  —  Continued 
for   Rhode   Island   convicts, 

54,  56-58 

in  Connecticut,  110 
never     established     in     this 

country,  50 

not  the  right  of  the  convict 

in  England  or  Germany,  50 

not  thought  of  at  the  time  the 

Rhode  Island  constitution 

was  adopted,  58 

right  of  French  convicts,  50 

self-adjusting  wage  scale,  96 

to  be  paid  in  token  money,  96 

to  increase  output,  50 

towards  payment  of  fine,  56 

will  result  in  profit  to  the 

State,  139 

War  Department,  Fort  Leaven- 
worth  restored  to,  88 
Washington,  Booker  T., "  Work- 
ing with  the  Hands",  139 


Whitin,  E.  Stagg,  50,  93,  101, 

167 
"Penal  Servitude",  50,  167, 

170 
"The  Caged  Man",  169 

Willoughby,  Professor,  "Con- 
stitution of  the  United 
States",  66 

Wilmot,  James,  "The  Utiliza- 
tion of  Convict  Labor  in 
Highway  Construction  in 
the  South",  161 

Wilmot,  Sydney,  "The  Utiliza- 
tion of  Convict  Labor  in 
Highway  Construction  in 
the  North",  161 

Wirt  School,  191 

Wright,  Carroll  D.,  "Historical 
Sketch  of  the  Knights  of 
Labor",  170 

ZANGWILL,  190 


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